Two Sides of a Coin
by inkywings
Summary: Sora and Riku are thieves, but when caught they have to work as servants in Disney Castle for two years. When Disney's occupants try to show them the light, the teens show them that you can't get everything you need with hard work, and open their eyes to
1. Heads or Tails?

**Welcome to Two Sides of a Coin!**

**I love writing new fics. I don't know why, I just get a kick out of starting something new. Hopefully this will be good. Um, the full summary to this is in my profile, if you wanna check it out. is a bastard and won't let me fit it all on .**

**By the time you're reading this, I'll have several other chapters done so I can update almost weekly. It really depends on how many reviews I get. If I don't get reviews, how do I know you like it or not? Then I'll become unsure and update less and less. Look at Catching Fire! Burned and crashed down into the ground. This story is replacing it, I hope you find it good. **

**Warnings: A darker interpretation of Disney. Also, the worlds... um, yeah, they're a bit different. But you'll see. There will be no, erm, world traveling, I guess you could say. The world isn't confined to only a few main parts like the game was. Remember, this is AU. And no main pairings. No yaoi, no yuri, no nothing. Unless you count DonaldxDaisy and MickeyxMinney as important pairings.**

**So, after these stupidly long author notes, let the story begin!**

_**Heads or Tails?**_

_Tails_

"HEY, YOU, GET BACK HERE!"

He welcomed the rush of adrenaline that suddenly spread through his body, leaving tingles in its wake as it spread from his heart to the tips of his toes. A wide grin spread across his face at the familiar sensation. It almost made him feel like wings had suddenly sprouted from his back and, with a flourish, he was gone. But his legs were the substitute, and they did just fine.

Said legs were moving so fast you could hardly see them, let alone keep track of where they were heading. And right now, they were heading down the main street as quick as lightning. His spiky brown here was matted to his forehead as he sweat in the sun's heat and from the burn in his aching muscles. But these were the times he felt more powerful then ever, exhilarated at the fright of the chase.

Things whipped out of sight too fast for him to see as he made a beeline for his favorite hiding spot. The bag in his hand bounced against his legs with a dull thump, jumbling its contents. But that was okay, there was nothing too valuable in there. But the way those guards were chasing him it was like he had stolen an antique vase from the halls of Disney Castle.

There were five of them. All wore white shirts with bright blue vests lined in silver fabric. A red and black insignia was on the left breast pocket of the jacket, bearing a black mouse head, a bright red background surrounding it. They had baggy white pants with heavy brown belts looping around their waists, the sheaths of their swords bumping along their legs as they ran and somewhat slowing them down.

Now this wasn't anything abnormal. City-dwellers didn't spare the chase a second glance, going about their business. Ten years ago they might have been alarmed at the sight of muscular men chasing after a small boy, but now it was just part of their daily lives.

But this wasn't a little boy. He may look like it on the outside with his boyish features and somewhat short height, but he was really fourteen years old. He had shining, bright blue eyes that sometimes gave away his cover come dusk. He had tanned skin from so much time out in the sun and brown hair that stuck up at all angles. His best friend sometimes jested that he had magical powers; how else, he inquired, could his hair defy gravity like that?

He was wearing cream-colored, dirty pants that had holes in the knees, exposing scraped up skin. His pants hung low, past his feet and trailing behind his heels. He was wearing skimpy brown flip-flops, the thong rubbing annoyingly at the sensitive skin between his toes, turning the flesh raw. He had on a white shirt that had torn sleeves, the shirt ending just before his elbows. Over it was a dark blue vest, tattered and worn with pockets on the outside that seemed useless, since they had holes in the bottoms. But on the inside was a treasure cove of hiding spots, large pockets perfect for stowing away objects he preferred to keep out of sight.

Also, Sora got the right to say "I'm all muscle." It was true. There wasn't' an ounce of fat on his body and, if you lifted his shirt up, you could see stubs of rib starting to poke through his skin. He was fourteen, he looked twelve, he acted eight and he weighed as much as a seven-year-old. The only thing on him were muscles and bones.

But the biggest mistake anyone had ever made, what everyone thought of him, wasn't his age. It was his will. When you thought of a crook, you thought of a sleezy-nosed rat that only thought of themselves and would sooner burn down an orphanage then give up any money and wouldn't shed a tear about it. But Sora wasn't like that; in fact, he was the complete opposite. He had a strong sense of justice, in fact. You wouldn't think that of a crook. But he didn't want to do what he did. He just had to.

Sometimes what you needed could only be obtained by taking it. And that was what he was forced to live by. Not that anyone would hear it; they were too busy trying to throw him in jail.

The shouts were still there, but dimmer now. He was starting to lose them, just like always. Smiling even wider, Sora didn't slow down. He had learned his lesson about that; you never know when someone might jump out at you from an alley. No, it was best to keep on going until he felt completely safe. Then again, he never really felt completely safe unless the other was there. He felt weak depending on somebody, but that was the way things just had to be.

And always would be.

His destination was in sight, a place had so jokingly called "Headquarters". The place was so simple to find, and they used that to their advantage; who expect sneaky thieves such as themselves to use a place so obvious?

No one was around now. The cheerful sun seemed darker from here, but it was still directly over head. It was noon, the hottest and busiest time of the day. But not here. Here it was the time of slumber.

Cautiously peeking over his shoulder to make sure no one was there, he hopped over a brown table and under a tattered cloth roof. It was an abandoned market shop, something that probably sold antiques. There was old, dusty vases laying around, most shattered and chipped. He and his friend had done a thorough search of the place before deciding it was abandoned; they had to make sure the owner didn't come back to discover his shop was being used as a hideout for thieves..

The area was suspected to be the home of many robbers, but so far they only saw an occasional person wander around, checking under stools and in rooms to look for extra money that may be lying around. But Sora and his partner in crime had swept the area, checking in every nook and cranny to take anything of value. Not that it would be missed; this place was completely deserted.

A raggedy blue and red carpet hung over an arch. Pushing it aside, Sora stepped into a dim storage area, the only light coming from a window on the far side of the room. It was dingy and dark, other pots and vases littering the corners of the room. Three was a throw rub heaped in the middle of the floor, holed dotted everywhere, showing where moths had decided to have a feast.

To the average eye, this place was just an empty warehouse, just as useless as the shop it had once supplied. But to the keen, there was something else. Something hidden in the back, something the store keeper obviously wanted to keep to himself.

In the back of the room, a small nook jutted inwards. A few old, ratty newspapers lay in uneven piles. But if you leaned in and stared hard at the wall, you could see a crack as thin as a hair winding up from the wall, turning downwards at around five feet, and back to the floor.

The teen stepped up to it. Firmly pressing his hand to the cold, hard surface of the wall, he pushed. He heard the scraping of rock-on-rock as the makeshift door swerved on its hinges, slowly creaking open.

Smiling, Sora stepped inside, careful to push the door back into place before looking around, dropping his burden to the floor.

He was in an even larger room, but this one had no light except for the flickering flame of a burning-out torch on the left wall. As he rushed over to tend to it, he passed by several stacks of items. One was trash: empty boxes and food packages strewn in the corner. He had to remember to get rid of that somewhere. They usually dumped it in the ditch by the side of the river; there was so much trash in there no one would ever notice someone regularly used it as a dumpster.

There were pots here and there. They were some of the few pots that weren't reduced to ruble and they used them to store any money they had gotten. As he stepped over one, he peered miserably into it and sighed heavily. It was empty.

Sora picked up the flint and steel that lay on the ground and began striking it. It was so worn out he was lucky to get a spark. But today, he saw a flicker of light erupt. Grinning, he used it to set another stick aflame and he stuck it into the large basin. Watching as the fire burned along the short log, he piled more wood in until the flight danced merrily through the room.

"Must be my lucky day," Sora murmured, and blinked as it came out in a hoarse whisper. It was then that he realized how thirsty he was, and just how bone dry his mouth was.

Scowling, he slipped his water flash from it's holder on his waist. Shaking it, he smiled at the loud sloshing noise he heard. Flicking the cap off with a thumb, he brought it to his lips and tilted it back, taking a deep swig of it. And then another, and another. The water was warm but it washed the stickiness out of his mouth and the tension in his muscles lessened slightly.

He drank the flash dry and pouted when he drained the last drop. Maybe his friend would have some water left... then again, the brunette probably didn't need it as much as his friend did.

Sora walked across the room, empty water flash laying on the ground. It was stuffy in here and he longed to open the door, just a crack. But he knew that if he did, the guards would spot it in an instant. He could still hear then. Feel them in his bones. Their heavy, ragged breathing. The heaving _thunk _of their boots as they hit the dirt ground. The swinging and banging of doors as they searched every room, every inch of space in the area. But they could never catch him. The place was well hidden and damn well impossible to see. The only reason he and his partner had ever found it was when the brunette tripped over the throw rug and slammed into the door, opening it a crack. But it was enough.

So he strayed around the stifling room, eyes skimming on the contents that had been placed carelessly on the ground. Two large mats of pillows and skimpy blankets were in the corner, showing where they slept at night. Stealing food was one thing. Stealing giant beds was another. But other then that, the place was pretty much empty except for the occasional piece of trash. It wasn't much... it wasn't anything, really... but it was home.

And then he heard the door creak open.

_Heads_

It was hard to keep ice cream from melting in the hot summer sun.

It was hard to clear snow from a sidewalk when your neighbor was shoveling their own and sending the snow flying right over to you.

It was even harder to dodge a guard that seemed insistent on speaking to you when you really didn't give a damn.

King Mickey sighed, finally resigned to his fate. In front of him was the second in command of the Castle's Royal Guards, or the CRG. He was a very large man, towering a good five feet over his King and sending a shadow three times as long stretching over the marble floor. He wore the same uniform as those that had been chasing the cinnamon-haired boy earlier, only instead of silver lining, it was gold, showing he was a commander.

His round face was cherry red from running outside, chasing the thief that had stolen from a nearby bakery. Said thief was never caught, although he was rarely the one who did the actual stealing. Usually the silver-haired one was who did the actual stealing, but the two had been seen together so often it was made apparent they worked together.

The mouse king had so far managed to ditch the guards attempts to talk to him three times this week. But the lucky streak was broken as the commander had finally managed to corner him in the hallway.

Brain coming up blank with excuses to get out of this one, Mickey sighed. "Yes?"

The commander straightened himself up to his full height (his shadow grew a few feet), he said, "I'd like to discuss with you the status of two miscreants in the village.

King Mickey rolled his eyes; not this one again. "What do you want me to tell ya?" he asked. "There isn't anything we can do if you guys can't catch him!"

"I would like to request additional support," he said seriously, and in a very business-like tone. "One squad just isn't enough."

"There are only two of them, as you've told me before," Mickey pointed out. "One squad can certainly catch two people."

The commanders face flushed an even deeper red.

When the commander said nothing, Mickey went on, "I can't afford to give you any more men just to catch two crooks. You guys should be able to handle it, it's what you're trained to do, right?"

The commander nodded grudgingly. "Yes, your majesty."

King Mickey frowned. "Are these the same ones you've been chasing for nine years?"

The commander didn't bother to respond. Instead, he just nodded glumly.

"I don't get it," Mickey sighed. "Can't you have figured out a pattern by now? Places they like to steal from, a circle of stores, sightings?"

The guard shook his head. "Nothing, sire. They steal mainly food, but they get it from large food marts to picking it out of peoples bags. And they've been seen pretty much everywhere, but no one can keep an eye on them for more then half a minute!"

"Then what do ya suggest we do?" the king asked. "Besides more people," he added, seeing the commander open his mouth and predicting what he would say. "These people don't sound like the kind that can be caught by sheer force."

There was a brief pause before the man said, "Perhaps posters?"

King Mickey raised an eyebrow. "Posters?"

The guard jumped and blushed, realizing the stupidity of the statement. "Wanted posters, your majesty. Perhaps if everyone was on the look out for them, we'd have a better chance."

"But how are you supposed to get a picture of them when no one can keep them in their sights for even a minute?"

"A description," he quipped. "And a reward will keep people on their toes, as well. A reward means both money and it would raise awareness of the danger of these thieves."

King Mickey mulled it over in his head for a few moments before admitting defeat. "All right, then," he said. "Do whatever you want. But remember, this is a big gamble."

To his guards puzzled expression, he continued "The longer the wanted poster is up, the more people realize how hard they are to catch, and the more dangerous them may seem. If people get too scared, they'll start to panic."

The guard nodded. "Understood, your majesty," he said with a bow. "Thank you for your time."

As he turned around to leave, King Mickey asked something to the retreating man. "By the way, commander. How old are these fellas?"

There was a pregnant pause. After several long moments...

"Fourteen and fifteen years old."

_Tails_

His heart skipped several beats and a layer of perspiration developed in a thin layer over his brow. His breath came out in short, quick gasps as he watched the door slowly creak open.

_Oh God..._

And then he saw a flash of silver.

_A sword!_

But no. The silver was actually hair, and it hung almost to the shoulder of a teen who stepped inside, smirking at Sora's change from frightened to undeniable relief.

"Riku!" Sora exclaimed. "Riku, you scared the shit out of me!"

Smirking, the teen shrugged lightly. "It's not my fault you're such a scaredy-cat, Sora"

Said scaredy-cat pouted. "I am not!" he said, huffing out his chest.

Riku laughed and walked over, poking his friend in the ribs and bringing the chest down to its original size. "Uh huh, sure you're not."

Dropping his sack down next to Sora (the brunette noted it looked slightly more bulky then his own) and walked over to the door. With what looked like ease, he slid the heavy door back into the frame, cutting off what little fresh air had been flowing through it moments ago.

"Admit it," Riku snorted, turning back around with a smug look on his face as he brushed silver hair out of his eyes. "You thought I was one of the damn guards."

Sora frowned. "Can you blame me?" he questioned, staring hard at his best friend's back as he emptied the contents of his and Sora's bag onto the floor. "They're getting smarter, Riku. You remember last week?"

Riku sighed heavily, sitting down. "Yes, I remember last week."

"Well _I _remember last week!" Sora said, as if Riku had said otherwise. "They were so close to the door I could hear them breathing!"

"That's just because you're paranoid, Sora."

"No I'm not!" Sora exclaimed. "And it's better then you who's acting like nothing's wrong!"

Riku's eyes flashed dangerously, causing Sora to shut up. "I know something's wrong," he said quietly. "I just don't flip out about it. Panicking will get us nowhere, and it certainly hasn't kept us safe these past nine years."

Sora was silent for a moment, just staring down at his friend who looked just as bad as Sora. His pants were a dark blood red, almost brown with age. He had on a light brown t-shirt that had a large tear in the side, the hole for the neck torn and frayed, as were the sleeves. He had a black vest on with a hood that was barely hanging on. They weren't coated with pockets as Sora's were, but provided better cover in the dark. He had dark rings under his eyes from keeping watch at night. Sora had offered to take the post every now and then, but Riku stubbornly refused, insisting Sora sleep. He, Riku, usually took a six or seven hour nap in the afternoon. That must be why he looked so tired at the moment; he was ready for some sleep.

He was also as rail-thin as his friend was from the days without food, days with scant rations. He usually forced Sora to take the bigger share when they barely had anything. He said something about it being no big deal, but Sora knew Riku was looking out for him. But he didn't know why; late at night, when Riku kept watch, he could hear grumbles from the older teens stomach. Sora knew Riku was in pain, he just didn't get why he went on like that. It made Sora feel guilty and... he felt like Riku was hiding something. But after all the things his best friend did for him, the brunette didn't push the subject.

"...I'm sorry..." Sora whispered, hanging his head low. "I shouldn't be afraid, I should be braver, but..."

His head snapped up when he felt a hand grip his shoulder gently. He hadn't even heard Riku stand up and walk over to him.

"It's fine," Riku said, gripping his shoulder in a reassuring matter.

Sora sighed. "I guess," he muttered. "But what are we going to do? What if they catch us?"

Riku shrugged. "Don't worry about it," he said. "They can't possibly catch us. Hell, they can't even find us!"

"They'll find us eventually," Sora muttered, casting sad eyes around their tiny home.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," Riku said sternly. "Now come on, let's eat. I'm tired and I want to go to sleep."

Sora managed a small smile at the mention of food and followed Riku to the pile he had made on the floor and sat down next to his friend.

He started at the items they had managed to scrape up from the streets, mainly from the marts that lined the roads. There was one whole loaf of bread, a jar of peanut butter, a small package of cheese (Sora secretly admired Riku's skill at managing to sneak into an ice box) and two small melons.

"Good haul, today," Sora said, grinning.

Riku nodded, smiling. And then he began to organize the food into piles, like he always did. "We can eat half the loaf of bread today. Eat it with the cheese; that won't last until tomorrow."

As Sora began to break up the loaf of bread, Riku continued. Sora, normally annoyed by organization, let Riku do it. It gave them both a sense of security, knowing they'd live for that amount of days. Knowing they had enough food to last them. Actually, Sora was pretty sure Riku did this sorting thing for the brunette, not himself.

"We can have a melon for breakfast and eat the other loaf of bread tomorrow with some of the peanut butter. We can save the other melon for the day after tomorrows breakfast."

Smiling at the way it worked out, Riku said, "Then we'll go shopping again."

Sora smiled grimly at Riku's choice of words. 'Shopping' meant 'stealing' in their language. What Sora wouldn't give to have REAL money to shop with. But unfortunately, there was always those few choice details that kept him from that dream.

Seeing Sora's expression, Riku chuckled. "To think you would've gotten used to this by now."

"I can't believe YOU are!" Sora said, frowning. "Stealing is wrong, Riku!"

"And yet it keeps us alive," Riku pointed out, raising an eyebrow. "Besides, what else can they do with that food? You see the way they waste it, shoving it in their faces and throwing the rest out. At least we put it to good use."

"That doesn't mean I have to get used to it."

"No, it doesn't," Riku admitted. With a smirk, he said, "Then I guess you don't want any of this 'stolen' food?"

He laughed loudly at Sora's startled expression and as he began to shake his head furiously.

"Bastard," Sora muttered as Riku continued to laugh. And then, taking more then his fair share of bread and cheese, Sora began to eat.

_**Chapter End**_

**That's all for this week. I have to go write chapter two now! I hope you all liked it, please give me any ideas on how to make it better! And don't kill me for them being 'OOC' because they aren't. This is, how I think, they would survive if they were in that kind of situation. Riku does what it takes to survive. And Sora hates stealing, but he does it to keep alive as well. You'll hear more of the reasoning when you learn more about their backgrounds.**

**... but Mickey's horribly OOC. DAMN YOU, MICKEY! DAMN YOOOUUU! **

**REVIEW PLEASE!**


	2. Heads, I Win

**Yay! REVIEWS! I hearted all of them, yes I did! I just got back from vacation so, um, yeah! Enjoy!**

_**Heads, I Win**_

_Heads_

The young girl bashed her eyes shyly at him, a blush on her cheeks. She wished she had put on something nicer other then this, but not all things can go as planned. Her neat skirt went down to her feet, a white apron tied around her waist and over the white blouse. Her blonde haired had been curled and was pulled neatly back behind her head with a bright blue ribbon, sending the wavy golden locks cascading down her back.

And she still couldn't believe she was this lucky.

The fine young man smiled down at her. She adored his sparkling green eyes as they stared kindly down at her, but she could've sworn she saw what looked like a smirk spread across his lips for a brief moment. But after that, it was gone and he was asking if he could buy her a drink later on.

He looked like he had seen better days. His clothes were a bit dirty and torn in places. He was tall and extremely skinny, but he had wonderful muscles that lined his arms and she could practically see them through his thin shirt. She wondered what kind of work he did? It must be inside work since his skin was so pale, but it contrasted wonderfully with the rest of him. Especially his hair.

His perfect, shining, silver hair.

_Tails_

Riku had to resist the urge to smirk at the blundering ditz who was staring up at him with goggling eyes. Honestly, hadn't her parents taught her anything? Never flirt with a guy you don't know...

...especially when he was hot and had picked specifically her to walk up to.

She was standing behind the table of a small mart on the corner of the Main Street.Different fruits were piled into wooden baskets along the shelves, beautiful colors shining in the morning sun. The young woman's father, the shop keeper, had gone out on break several minutes ago. After careful observation for several days, they figured out where he went everyday; at 11:15, he headed down to the pub that was across the street and several blocks over.

When Sora signaled to him, Riku made his move. Normally Sora would be the one up here, being the distraction and flirting with the woman. But Sora usually blundered through it, stuttering and blushing too much. The girl would usually A. burst out laughing, which broke the moment so she would notice Riku swiping a few things off the cabinet or, if she was smart, B. notice that Sora kept glancing behind her at Riku to make sure everything was all right.

No, Sora was good at making a lot of noise for a distraction. But that only worked when the street was less crowded; people usually came running when they heard loud a loud BOOM! But it was close to noon, which meant everyone was rushing to the marts to get the freshest products they could get their hands on.

Riku stole a quick glance behind the girl, who was currently batting her eyelashes at him. Someone with a brown traveling cloak was the only other customer here. His hood drooped down to his chin and his back was hunched. There was a brown sack dangling off a thin wrist.

Sora made an excellent impression of an old man.

But the shop owner's daughter was too absorbed in the petty compliments Riku fed her to notice the 'old man' as his hands skimmed over the fruit, seemingly checking to see if they were fresh. It was almost impossible to see him lightly tap them so that they rolled off of the stack and tumbled into the bag on his wrist.

"So, how about I buy you a drink later on?" Riku asked, smiling down at her. He saw her cheeks blush even redder. He could've sworn he heard the 'old man' give a chuckle, to which he just ignored. He had a job to do. It wasn't his problem if she was waiting for a man that would never show.

"O-okay," she stuttered. "Um, th-that is, if Papa lets me go early..."

Riku smiled sweetly down at her. "I'm sure a lovely young lady such as yourself won't have a problem. Not with a pretty face like yours."

The old man was having a coughing fit that sounded more like laughter.

The girl, oblivious to the 'hacking' of the 'old man', said, "A-a-all r-right then. Um, when?"

Riku smiled, praying it didn't look more like a smirk. "Hm, about four? Sound good to you?"

The woman nodded her head, beaming. "Yes! Um, where at?"

"Don't worry," Riku chuckled. "I'll find you."

Spotting the cloaked figure start to make his way back to the street, the bag much bigger then it had been earlier, Riku picked up a shiny red apple from the stack on his right.

"Penny for your thoughts," he said sweetly, tossing the apple to her. She caught it in trembling hands, nearly dropping it. Riku dropped a coin into the tin can next to the old cashier, winked, and walked away.

Who would know the coin was fake? She sure as Hell wouldn't. She was too busy turning into a puddle of mush behind the counter.

Smirking, rather pleased with himself, he casually walked up to the edge of the street where the old man was waiting for a train of carriages to pass.

"'Penny for your thoughts'?" a voice beneath the cloak asked. Riku could almost hear the smirk in his voice. "Honestly, Riku, can't you do any better? That line is so cheesy."

Frowning, Riku watched as the last of the carriages passed. He saw a group of girls eyeing him from the other side of the street.

Smirking, Riku said, "Here, let me help you across the street, _ma'am_."

His smirk widened as he saw the girls swoon at the act of kindness and from the mutterings he heard coming from under the cloak. He caught the words 'murder', 'got us food', and 'bastard' somewhere in there, but the rest was drowned out by the carrying voices of the other civilians.

Riku took Sora by the arm and led him across the busy street, trying not to laugh too much. He was failing dismally.

"Aren't you hot in that thing?" Riku asked once they were safely across. "You must be sweating like a pig."

"I am," Sora groaned. "I can't wait to get home so I can take this thing off."

Riku chuckled. "If you just stopped in an alley you could take it off, ya know."

Sora shrugged. "I'll wait," he said. "Better safe then sorry."

Riku rolled his eyes. "Sora, there are no guards around here. Well, not yet, anyway. And you're no use if you die of heat stroke."

They passed by a crowded fish mark, a joyous man shouting out bidding prices while other took tickets to get their turn. They squeezed through the mass of people, getting separated momentarily before joining each other a minute later, free of the group of customers.

"If you're so worried about me getting heat stroke," Sora began, fixing the hood of his cloak that had fallen off when a large man had banged into him, "then you can take this." He shook the sack of fruit he held in his left hand.

Riku eyed it before laughing. "Nah," he said. "Fix your back, people are beginning to stare."

And it was true. They were catching people's eyes; they were confused as to why someone would be wearing a cloak in this kind of weather.

Sora hitched his shoulder so it appeared his back had a hump again. A few moments later, when few people were staring, he muttered in a raspy voice, "What were you saying?"

"I was saying," Riku said, smirking, "that if we were caught by any guards, I don't want to be the one caught with the stolen goods."

Sora pouted. "Some friend you are," he said disdainfully, glaring up at Riku, but careful to keep his back hunched over.

"Hey, I do my best," Riku said smugly.

They were heading to the main part of the city now, and it was something Sora never stopped getting a thrill out of. He just loved seeing all these people doing their shopping, making jokes. Children playing hopscotch on the sidewalk to playing tag in the grass plains that stretched out behind the shops.

Then there was the place itself. It seemed they had something new every time you went there. Freshly baked pastries lay in glass shelves, steaming the windows and sending a wonderful, wafting smell spiraling through the air. Different jewelry gleamed in the sunlight, sparkling from their satin cushions.

Sawdust lay in heaps as skilled carpenters worked their way through fat logs, making them into masterpieces. Sometimes, if they had time, Riku would let Sora stop there to join the gaggle of people who watched the wood be chipped, carved and sawed down into stools, statues, figurines. Once, when they were little, the carpenter took a small block of wood and whittled it down into a small figurine pf a dog and gave it to Sora. The brunette still had it; it was bundled up in cloth and lay under his pillow at home. It was one of his few treasures.

They passed by a toy shop that was full of giggling little kids. Sora smiled, but no one could see, his face hidden by the cloak. He knew it was childish, but Sora loved toys. He liked how they saved you from boredom, the funny things they did, the smiles they put on other peoples faces.

When he was little, his friends always brought their toys to Sora when they were broken. Why? Because Sora could fix them like no other with only wood chips, paste and a rubber band. If the squeaker was punctured, he could make it squeak louder. If something stopped jumping, he could make it leap higher.

Riku once said that when they were older, maybe Sora could open up his own toy shop. But now that they were older, Sora knew better. They were thieves, now, and with no money to open a shop. Riku said things would get better, but as far as Sora could see, they had painted themselves into a corner. Now, the only thing they could do was wait to see what happened next.

"If you just keep on standing in the middle of the street like that you're going to get run over."

Sora's lower lip jutted out in a pout as he was snapped out of his thoughts by his best friend. Playfully swatting Riku over the head, Sora said, "Oh shut up."

Riku laughed. "You never get tired of this place, do you?" he teased.

Sora smiled weakly and chuckled a bit. "Nah, I guess not."

Riku patted Sora on the back and led him out of the center of the hustle and looked down at him. "How about you stay here for a bit?" Riku suggested.

Sora blinked up at him. "Really?"

Riku shrugged. "You deserve a break," he said simply. Bending down slightly, he took the bag of fruit from Sora and grinned. I'll take this home and you just hang out here for a while. Besides, I'm tired and I wanna take a nap. And with you, you'll stand here gawking so long it'll be night by the time we get home."

Sora grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "Yeah, I guess," he said. "I'll see you at home later, then."

Riku nodded and was about to turn and walk off, but he hesitated. "Remember to be careful. If someone's staring at you, try and go in an alley for a while before coming back out."

Sora rolled his eyes in exasperation, crossing his arms over his chest. "Riku, chill. I know!"

Riku continued as if Sora hadn't spoken. "Don't' talk to anyone if you don't need to, don't twitch like you usually do when you get nervous; it makes you look like you're about to steal something."

"Which I usually am," Sora reminded him.

Once again ignoring him, Riku said, "Come back in before dusk and make sure you're not being followed. I don't care if you have to back track for a bit, just make sure no one sees you. And if half of this amount of people leave," he motioned around them with a hand, "then come back. There's nothing more suspicious then a kid wandering around in a small crowd in the dark."

Sora sighed. "All right, all right, I've got it," he muttered. "Can I go now?"

"Yeah," Riku nodded. "Just ditch the cloak; I don't want anyone bringing you back on a stretcher if you pass out from heat stroke."

Sora grinned his cheesy smile. "I will!" he promised. "You go and take your stupid nap. And I'd better not see half of that fruit gone when I get back."

"Sora, you're the glutton, not me," Riku pointed out. Technically, neither were gluttons. Neither had the chance to eat much except on holidays when they usually managed to steal a cooked meal from a restaurant, usually a roast turkey or something. It was extremely difficult; you were noticed every time you stole something that big. The only reason you got away with it on holidays was because people were just too festive and cheerful to really care. They just let it go in the spirit of the holiday.

Sora shrugged. "Whatever," he said. "You'd better get going if you want to catch up on your beauty sleep."

"I don't need it," Riku said smugly, but he batted Sora over the head for it nonetheless. Raising a hand in farewell, Riku left Sora standing at the corner of the market.

Shaking his head, Sora turned around and headed down the bustling streets. He was sweating up a storm underneath the stupid coat and he couldn't wait to find a place to take it off.

He stopped at the space between two of the emptiest marts and looked in. The gap stopped at a thin alley way that stretched between two warehouses.

He cast a weary eye over his shoulder to check to see if he was being watch, and then he ducked into the dim alley.

Stepping over small pieces of trash, Sora headed in deeper. The noise of the market rung dully in the cramped space. Sora headed back until he was quite sure that no one could see him, even if they were squinting. It was very dark, the only light coming from the inch of space between the two thin roofs. The light shown down on his face, bathing his middle in sultry light.

Smiling slightly to himself at the thin ray of light in such a dingy place, Sora flipped his hood off to reveal sweat soaked hair that hung down his head and over his eyes.

He rubbed at his hair impatiently until it sprung back to life and stuck up once again. He pulled the buttons free of their loops, freeing him from the heavy heat of the coat. Signing in relief as cool air hit his skin, Sora slid the coat off his shoulders. He held it before him for a moment before dumping it on the ground for a later day. He could come back and get it later, when it wasn't so crowded. Until then, he figured that no one in their right minds would come back here, let alone pick up a dingy coat. They probably couldn't even see the alley; their eyes would bounce from the fish market on the left to the shoe store on the right.

Grinning at his reasoning, Sora made his way out of the narrow alley. When he met the warm air of the huge market, he couldn't help a sigh of contentment. Without the cloth to muffle his hearing, the sounds and shouts of laughter were crisp and clear, getting rid of any unhappy thoughts that shadowed his mind.

Everything was bright in his eyes and he couldn't help but feel a surge of resentment at the dingy coat in the alley; it had been blocking this wonderful sight.

He wondered aimlessly through the market, dodging the rush of people who were trying to make it here or there. Salesman were barking prices at the throngs of people, trying to get their attention.

Something crinkled under his feet and it caught Sora's attention. Glancing down, he saw a crumbled up dollar bill underneath his feet. Grinning at his luck, Sora bent down and carefully picked it up, as if afraid it would rip into a million pieces if he went too fast. Holding it to the light, he saw that it was, indeed, real. Smiling, Sora folded it and carefully tucked it into his pocket for later.

He picked his away for a bit until he came to the Toy Shoppe. Smiling, Sora, glancing to his left and right first, stepped inside.

The jingling of the bell was soon followed by shouts of laughter. He smiled as he saw children looking around the shelves, occasionally squealing with laughter or picking it up, bringing it to their parents to beg for them to buy it. Sora remembered living for the days when his parents brought him here. Sora loved looking around at the brightly colored toys. Soft, plastic, bright, small, big, loud... he liked them all. It was always the biggest thrill when his parents let him pick one out.

He could see that this wasn't one of those overly-jazzed toyshops that hadn't been popping up everywhere. Sora despised them; the creators of those flashy, cheap toys always created them for money, not for the children. The one reason Sora would want to work here was for the bright smiles that lit a child's face when they got it. To hear them laughing, having a good time. Because Sora knew how much he loved it... he just wanted everyone else to have just as much fun.

He passed rows of jigsaw puzzles with mesmerizing designs and colorful pictures, stuffed animals, little plastic dolls with painted faces, toy dinosaurs, fake make-up kits, everything. Sora made sure to keep his hands in sight of the man at the cashier at all times. The guy was giving him suspicious looks. Actually, all of the parents were. And that was when he realized it.

_They think I'm going to steal something._

He felt the joy begin to seep out of him, the smile sliding off of his face. With his head bent down slightly in shame, Sora walked out of the shop.

He understood completely, really. It just... hurt. No one was certain that he was one of the famed robbers who had plagued Disney Village for nine years There was no real proof. But they knew he was one of them. They knew he was dangerous, and they wanted him to just stay away form their kids, that was all. But... Sora didn't want to hurt anybody. Never! He wasn't dangerous!

But that wasn't what his reputation said.

_Fuck my reputation._

He stopped paying attention to where he was going. He shoved roughly into people who gave a gasp of surprise every time, but the noise rebounded off of deaf ears. He was too lost in his own thoughts to either here them or care which direction he was headed.

Eventually, the noise died down. People were starting to leave the huge bazaar and the sky was beginning to darken into dusk. He vaguely wandered if his feet were taking him home, but he decided to let them have their way. He didn't really care right now. The light that the joyful city had brought him was put out. He was starting to feel cold.

Just as he was debating on whether or not to go back to get the cloak, he heard angry voices.

"It's all your fault it broke!"

"Nuh uh, Huey had it last!"

"I did not! It was Duey!"

"No, it was Louie!"

Sora blinked tiredly, searching for the source of all the noise. He found it next to a closed produce stand. At the side of it sat three ducks, all wearing shirts and a baseball cap. One red, one green, another blue.

Sora blinked and walked a bit closer, careful not to make a sound.

The one in the red squawked, "Well, who cares who did it? All that matters now is that it's broken!"

That caught Sora's interest. The brunette was very good at fixing things, even though most of the things he ended up fixing were things he had broken himself.

Looking down, he saw a bright green fro, the size of their head, lay sprawled out in front of them. It's painted blue eyes were wide as it stared up at the shy, as was the plastic smile. But one of it's legs was twisted at the hinge and as they set it up and pushed it down, it just flopped to the ground uselessly.

Sora smiled gently. He had seen it in the Toy Shoppe earlier on. Pushing aside the dark thoughts that were starting to re-enter his mind from the earlier visit, he stuck his hand into his pocket, searching for something. The dollar bill crinkled as his fingers brushed over it, a bit of lint stuck to his fingertips, and what he wanted was at the bottom. Grinning triumphantly, Sora pulled it out and brushed the lint off of his hand.

Stepping closer to them, no longer bothering to not make any noise, he squatted down. The three ducks blinked up at him.

"Huh?"

"Do you mind if I see that for a moment?" Sora asked, pointing to their fallen toy.

The one in the red shirt scooped it up in feathered hands and, after glancing quickly at his companions, handed it to Sora.

"What're you gonna do with it?" one asked.

Sora smiled gently down at him. "I'm gonna fix it." And then he set to work.

First, he flipped the plastic catch down at the foot, flipping the piece of plastic off of the broken leg. After staring at it for a moment, Sora used his nail and dug inside the leg until he pulled out a long piece of elastic that had been snapped down the middle.

Grinning, Sora took the rubber band and hooked one end on a stub of plastic by the foot. He wound the band around a small wheel at the joint of the knee and then, with his nail, brought it back around and to the foot where he tugged it on the same nub of plastic as before. It was a tight fit, but that was okay. If it was loose, it wouldn't work at all. The tighter it was, the higher the leap. An added bonus.

He flipped the small plastic hatch into place and squeezed, satisfied when he heard a gentle clicking sound.

"Ha!" Sora laughed in triumph. Grinning, he handed the toy frog back to its owners.

"Wow, thanks, mister!" the one in the green squawked happily.

"We thought it'd be broken forever!" the one in the yellow added. Taking the frog, he placed it on the ground and, after pushing it down, watched as it leapt high in the air and into his hands. "It even jumps higher!"

Sora laughed, heart lightening considerably. "Yeah, no problem," he assured them with a smile. "Just make sure you don't bounce it _too _much or the rubber band will snap."

They watched as the human teen stood up and stretched. "That thing was bound to break in a month," he pointed out, frowning. "But now I'm pretty sure it'll last longer now."

"Thanks, umm..."

"Sora," the brunette said.

"Thanks, Sora!" they chorused.

"By the way," the one in the red said, "I'm Louie."

"I'm Duey!" That was the green one.

"And I'm Huey!" the one in blue finished.

Sora laughed awkwardly. "So, um, I'm guessing you guys are brothers?"

Duey nodded. At least, Sora _thought _that one was Duey. Or was it Louie? "Yup! We're here with our uncle and his friend!"

"Oh," Sora said in slight surprise. Looking around, he said, "I don't see anyone..."

"They're right behind you!" the one in blue laughed. Duey? Or Huey?

But Sora wasn't paying attention to that right now. He was too busy waiting, or perhaps, praying, for the sky to fall and kill him. Just kill him now. Please, God have mercy.

There behind him stood the Court's Royal Magician and, right next to him, the captain of the Royal Nights.

"Ahyuck, hiya there!"

His life was so fucked up.

_**End Chapter**_

**I've been writing this on and off all day. I had a nice time with it, too. It was nice to take my time and enjoy it at the same time. Well, until next week! And please drop me a review or I'll consider not posting for another two weeks. Hee-hee, bye!**


	3. Tails, You Lose

**My writing feels nOOb like. Must die. But not before I finish this chapter; I'm having too much fun. Gaaaaah, I'm angsting. And this story should be keeping the angst level to a minimum. I'm using this as an outlet to let free all the fluff so I can use the angst for Flickering Light and stuff.**

**...but that doesn't mean there won't be a bit of angst in here, bwa ha ha...**

_**Tails, You Lose**_

_Heads_

His life was so fucked up. It really was.

He was the army's general.

He was the Court Magician.

He was a thief.

He didn't want to stick around to find out the outcome of this little meeting.

"Hey, are you okay?" the knight asked. "Ya look a bit pale..."

"I'm f-f-fine!" Sora said, but it came out more of a squeak then anything. He had to get out of here, and fast! Where there was important people like these, there was bound to be guards. And Sora had the feeling that every one of them had memorized his facial features by now.

"Are ya sure?" Goofy asked, eyes drooping down in worry. "Are you sick or somethin'?"

The duck, however, wasn't being so sympathetic. "What are you doing around here this late?" he asked impatiently.

"Uncle Donald, chill!" the duckling in red said. Sora didn't even bother trying to remember his name this time. "This is Sora! He fixed our toy, look!"

Oh God, they'd given away his name.

They pushed the frog back on the ground and released it, letting it leap at their uncle.

Donald gave an angry squawk as the thing jumped at him. He took a hasty step backward and let the thing plop back down to the ground.

"Wonderful," he muttered, and Sora could tell Donald really wished the frog had remained broken.

"So, ya fix toys, do ya?" Goofy asked, putting his hands on his hips. Sora inwardly groaned; he was back in the spotlight, which was the last place he wanted to be. "Are ya Gepetto's son?"

Sora shook his head. "Um, no," he murmured. He recognized the name and was flattered that they thought him the son of such an excellent toy maker.

"Ya shouldn't be out here this late at night, though," Goofy scolded gently. "People may think you're up to no good!"

"Heh heh heh, imagine that!" Sora said, rubbing the back of his head. Oh God, Riku was right. He did twitch! He was getting nervous and if he wasn't out of here soon, he'd scream!

"Something fishy is going on here," Donald hissed, looking at Sora with narrowed eyes.

Sora gulped.

"What did you say your name was, again?"

"Ummm..." Should he lie? No. Huey, Duey and Louie knew his name. "It's Sora, sir."

"Sora..." Donald murmured, scratching his chin, or bottom of his beak, in thought. "That sounds familiar... now where have I heard it before...?"

"No where!" Sora assured him hastily.

"Now hang on a minute," Goofy said, eyebrows furrowed in concentration. "Come to think of it, it sounds familiar to me, too."

Sora was starting to sweat. Could he take these guys? Probably not. And even if he did beat them, that would be a much bigger criminal offense then stealing fruit. He'd get thrown in jail for sure.

"I can't put my finger on it," Donald muttered. "But something about this isn't right."

"No, everything's right!" Sora nodded, inwardly hitting himself for the pathetic statement. "Um, I was just... just... out shopping!" He grinned.

"But you came _from _the market," the duck in green said. "I saw you walking away from it!"

"And you didn't seem to buy anything," Donald said, crossing his arms. "This is pretty suspicious."

"Eh heh..." Sora laughed nervously, wincing, only half a smile on his face.

"Now Donald, that's no reason to be suspicious," Goofy pointed out. "He didn't do anything wrong!"

"And how do we know that?" Donald snapped. "For all we know, he could've been vandalizing, stealing," Sora gulped, "mugging someone..."

"I wouldn't mug someone!" Sora said, startled.

"Uh huh, suuuure you wouldn't!"

"Uncle Donald!" one of his nephews protested. "Sora's nice! He wouldn't do that stuff or steal anything!"

Make the guilt stop damn it!

"Well, we'll just walk Sora home!" Goofy suggested.

The following ran through Sora's head: badideabadideabadideabadidea VERYBADIDEA!

"Um, no, it's okay," Sora laughed, putting a false grin on his face. Maybe he could get away from this unscathed? Very unlikely, but still possible. "I-I can walk home myself..."

"No, we'd like to meet your parents," Donald sneered. "See why they let you out so late..."

"Don't worry, it's fine!" Sora stammered, taking a step backwards and waving his hands in front of him. "I didn't do anything wrong, right? I can get home by myself..."

"Oh no you don't!" Donald snapped. "Something is wrong here and I wanna know what it is!"

Where should he start? The fact that people were starving in the shadows of their Castle's perfect kingdom? Or that they've been stealing to live for the past nine years? Or perhaps that every guard in that homey little castle of theirs was on the search for him and Riku this very moment?

Sora went for none of the above.

"Everything's fine, I swear!" Sora insisted. "I was heading home right now..."

"To take home the imaginary groceries?"

"Yea... I mean, no!"

"Young man, if you don't tell us what's going on right now, we'll have to take you up to the castle!"

_FUCK! _Sora was trapped... he either let them take him home to his and Riku's base or he was forced to go to the castle where they'd immediately recognize him and throw him in jail. Or worse...

...make him tell them where Riku was.

Grim faced, Sora opened his mouth...

"Ethan, there you are!"

Sora was immediately swept into a great bear hug from a strong someone behind him. Thin, yet extremely masculine, arms were wrapped around his chest as he was pulled hard into a rock-hard chest behind him. He saw a stray lock of hair spill over his forehead and in front of his eye.

_Riku!_

"Where have you been?" he heard his best friend scold harshly. He was spun around and he saw Riku standing there. The dark rings under his eyes were even larger then normal, but you could barely see them in the dark. How had it gotten so dark so quick? Riku continued, "I've been so worried about you, Ethan! I told you to never run off!"

"Um, I'm not Ethan..."

"Don't worry, you'll be all right."

Had Riku flipped his lid?

"Ahem," Donald said impatiently, not at all affected by the reunion. "Not to be rude, but who the heck are you?"

Riku's eyes snapped up as if he had only just noticed Donald and Goofy standing there. "Oh, I'm sorry," Riku said innocently. "Was my little brother being a problem?"

"Little brother?" Goofy questioned, tilting his head to the side.

"But you two don't look anything alike!" Donald snapped.

"We have different mothers," Riku said simply. "Dad divorced and got re-married."

He was saying this so casually that Sora was concerned for his sanity. But then it hit him; Riku was just acting! Real smart, Sora.

"Oh," Donald murmured, expression softening a little bit.

"Yeah," Riku said, shrugging. "But was Ethan bugging you guys?" He gave 'Ethan' a reprimanding look.

"Ethan?" one of the nephews asked. "I thought his name was Sora!"

Riku sighed dramatically. "It's sad, really," he said. Letting go of Sora, he walked a bit closer to Donald and Goofy and whispered, " He keeps saying his name is Sora. He's a bit touched in the head!"

"Hey!" Sora snapped, glaring. "I am not!"

"Don't worry, Ethan," Riku said reassuringly, walking back to the brunette and patting him on the head. "You'll be all right."

"Well, we're really sorry for all this," Goofy laughed. "Donald was just over-reacting again."

Riku laughed back. It's no problem," he said. "And I'm sorry for Ethan, sir. He gets a bit out of hand, sometimes." To Sora, who was now pouting, he said, "You ready to go home?"

Lower lip jutted out, Sora muttered, "Whatever, Riku."

"'Riku' is the name of the dog, Ethan," Riku said gently, patting Sora on the head again. Sora batted Riku's hand away, now absolutely sulking. Riku chuckled, and held his hand out to Goofy, who shook it. "Sorry about this," he apologized. "I'll just get him back home now. We were starting to worry; our mother was about to call the guards."

"Are you sure you don't want some company?" Goofy asked, frowning. "It's a bit dangerous out here at night..."

"Nah, we'll be fine," Riku assured him. "We don't live that far away. But thanks for the offer."

With a final nod at the others, Riku looped a hand around Sora's shoulders and turned him around, leading him away and back towards the market.

"See ya, Ethan!" the three nephews shouted, waving. Who cared if he was insane? Insane people were cool!

Sora waved a hand in farewell. Riku pulled on his shoulders harder and said, in a rather loud voice, "C'mon, dinner's on the table."

They walked in silence for five minutes. The moon was now out, shining and lighting the way down the dark, deserted streets. A few houses and candles burning in the windows, but others were pitch black, meaning their occupants were asleep.

Sora gazed longingly at the houses. He'd heard about other teenagers his age who risked being grounded just to get out of those houses. But if Sora were them, he'd do his best to never leave. Having a nice window that you could stick your head out of to just look at the sky, a comfortable bed, a mother to tuck you into it every night, a dad to ask you to help him fix things around the house, a pet to greet you every time you entered the door...

Who would ever want to leave a place like that? They'd have to be insane! Speaking of insane...

"...why the HELL did I have to be insane?"

An odd expression crossed Riku's face for a moment. There was a pause... and then, throwing his head back, he started to laugh.

Sora felt a grin tug at the corners of his lips as he watched his friend let out shouts of loud, pure laughter that rung in the air and through the dark night. It was contagious, really, and soon, Sora found himself laughing, too.

_Tails_

"Tell me a story."

Riku blinked in surprise, his heart beat increasing a bit in shock. He had thought his friend was asleep. Obviously he was mistaken.

Twisting his waist, Riku saw that Sora was sitting up. It was pitch black in the room, not a single light shining, not even the moonlight. They had doused the torch for the night and Riku was now sitting in front of the door like he did every night. Because of this, he had excellent night vision, much better then the normal human.

Then again, Riku wasn't like most humans in a lot of other ways, too.

"What?" Riku said in disbelief. "You want me to tell you a story?"

He heard the rustle of cloth and he watched as Sora picked himself up out of the sheets and covers. He could hear the soft padding of feet as Sora made his way across the small room to the silver-haired teen before sitting down on the floor next to him.

Stretching, Sora smiled. "Yeah," he whispered. "I want to hear a story."

Riku sighed, running a hand through his silver tresses. "Now?" he asked. "I thought we quit your insane act."

"You're the only one who was ever acting like I was insane," Sora pointed out.

"That's because I wasn't acting." Riku sighed and rolled his eyes and, even though Sora couldn't see him, the brunette knew that he did so. "It's late," Riku pointed out. "You should be getting some sleep."

"And so should you," Sora said stubbornly, poking his best friend in the arm.

"We shouldn't be going through this every night," Riku said in exasperation. And even though he did his best to fight it down, a yawn escaped from his lips.

Sora frowned. "You're tired," he said quietly. "Didn't you take a nap today?"

Riku shrugged. "Nah," he said. "Didn't feel like taking one."

"You were worried about me, weren't you?"

Riku didn't say anything to this accusation, partly because it was true, partly because he was afraid that if he opened his mouth again, another yawn would escape him. He just shrugged.

"You were." This wasn't a question; it was a statement. "Riku, you know I can take care of myself."

Riku still didn't say anything.

After waiting a moment or two for a reply, which never came, Sora said in an even quieter voice, "It's because something's happened, isn't it?"

Riku sighed. "Nothing's happened, Sora. Everything is fine."

That set Sora off. "What do you mean everything's fine?" he snapped, loud voice cracking like a whip in the tiny, silent room. "We're living day-by-day off of stolen food, we live in a tiny little stone hut with no light whatsoever, and the only air is coming from little holes made by the rats! Guards chase us down every day, not even caring if we die in the chase or not, and we can't go ten steps without someone muttering about us and talking about finally turning us in! And you're saying everything is FINE? Bull shit!"

Riku was stunned. He would have said something, but he was too shocked. He was amazed Sora had said all that to him, but what really got him was... that every word of it was true. They were living off of stolen goods. They were trapped in a Hell Hole for a home, they were being chased constantly by the Royal Guards, they were being talked about...

"Sora, I..." That's as far as Riku got. He wanted to tell Sora everything was all right, but he couldn't. Nothing had been right for the past nine years. But he wouldn't admit that, not to Sora. He'd gotten them into this on his own stupid, foolish pride, and he'd get them out of it. Sacrificing whatever he needed to.

"You're right," he finally said, staring down at his hands which, he now noticed, were curled tightly in his lap. "Everything isn't fine. Is that what you wanted to hear? That the guards are going to come in here and set this place on fire? Or that we're going to starve?"

Sora was silent for a moment before saying, "It'd be better then lies. At least I'd know what was going on..."

The silence gnawed through their heavy minds for a few moments. It was cold and stuffy in here, constricting their lungs. _Suffocating_.

Sora blinked when he felt a strong arm wrap around his shoulders and he was tugged firmly to his best friends side. He could hear Riku's heart beat. It was... so fast. So quick. Dangerously fast. He thought he felt a jolt every now and then. And when Riku spoke, it was in a raspy voice.

"Once upon a time," he whispered. "There lived two little boys. Everywhere around them was grassy plains, smiling faces, and a happy home."

Sora could feel Riku tremble slightly. "Riku...?"

But he went on. "But sometimes..." he whispered, "things went wrong. They had their foes. Huge men in white turbans showed up at their houses. The two boys were scared, but they kept on. They still had their grassy fields, their smiling faces, their happy home."

Sora definitely noticed the shuddering in Riku now. Was... was he crying?

"And one day," the older teen went on, "their fairy tale ended. The men in white turbans came back to their house." Sora shuttered, closing his eyes tightly. "They burned down their house... and they burned their grassy fields, their smiling faces, their happy home..."

The arm around Sora's shoulders tightened and Sora pressed his face into Riku's shoulder, a tremor coursing through his thin body.

"So they left it all," Riku murmured. "The one boy had made a promise, and they looked after each other. They did what they needed to. They left their friends. They left their old lives for something new, something no one liked. Something no one understood. And they'd never know... that all the boys wanted back was... their grassy fields..."

"...Riku..."

"...their smiling faces..."

A sniff.

"...and their happy home..."

Sora felt something wet slide down his cheeks. And although his eyes were beginning to burn, he knew he wasn't crying... it was Riku...

"I'm so sorry, Sora..." Riku murmured in a shaking voice, bending his head low. "I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you... I made a mistake... I'm so sorry..."

Sora was too confused. The whispered apologies came out in a thick, quiet stream. They got quieter and quieter until it was only a dull murmur in the cold, dark night. The silence was deafening, the arm around his shoulder relaxing it's grip. He felt a head loll onto his shoulder; Riku had fallen asleep.

Shaking slightly, Sora carefully put his arm around his best friends back and slowly lowered him to the ground. He ran a hand over his cheek and was shocked to find it was wet from tears. Biting his lips, Sora felt his way across the room to their makeshift beds. He pulled out a blanket and pillow and made his way back to the sleeping Riku.

He settled the pillow under Riku's head, lifting it gently and slowly putting it back down. He threw the dingy blanket over his friend, frowning when he heard a crinkling.

He let his fingertips guide him to the source of the sound, shifting the blanket so he could hear it. Finally, he found a rolled up piece of parchment sticking out of the silver-haired teens pockets.

Frown deepening, Sora gently pulled it out. Once it was tucked safely in his grasp, he let the blanket slide over the rest of Riku's torso. Then, quiet as a mouse, he walked over to the spot where he knew he would find the emergency matches. This wasn't exactly an emergency, but Riku was crying. And that scared him far worse then the guards, worse then the truth of the story his best friend had just told him.

Finding the small box, he slid it open gently with his fingers. Reaching inside, he pulled out a thin, wooden match. Putting the parchment carefully on the ground beside him, Sora brought the match to the gritty side of the box and slid it down roughly.

_FLASH!  
_

A bright light erupted from the tip of the match, blinding Sora momentarily, no matter how small the light. Blinking a few times to get used to the new light, Sora looked around. Finding the tightly rolled piece of paper, which was beginning to unfurl, he picked it up. It was pretty big, looking like some sort of poster. Sora frowned, wondering what was so special about it. Laying it on the ground. he spread his hand to uncurl it slightly. Using the palm he held the match with, he held it in place and unfolded the rest, holding it down with his right hand.

Using his knee to keep the left side in place, Sora rose the match to look at it properly. He took one quick moment to look it over. It took another moment for his heart to stop beating. And it would take a lifetime to forget what he was seeing.

The match dropped from his hand in shock, immediately setting the piece of paper aflame. He watched with eyes twice as wide as normal, breath coming out in painful gasps. The headline read WANTED, and it was slowly disappearing in flame.

The two pictures took longer to burn, along with the amount of money on the bottom. He looked at the pictures, shaking from head to foot. He couldn't breath. He felt so sick. The rest of the poster burst into flames, the fire dancing tauntingly before his eyes.

_Oh God... Oh please, please, no..._

And he watched as his and Riku's pictures burned to ashes. Just like their grassy plains, their smiling faces, and their happy home.

_**End Chapter**_

**All done! Hope you all enjoyed it! (nodnod) This was for my friend DieChan, the tiny bit of shounen-ai. But this fic is not shounen-ai! I just did it for DieChan 'cause she likes it so much XD. **

**Well, you finally got a bit of their background. It was very brief, but you'll find out the details later. Well, until next week, see ya!**


	4. Find a Penny, Pick It Up

**Hello! I'm back to updating my baby and by now, this story has lasted for a month!**

**WOOOT!**

**My friend said she hasn't seen this kind of plot before. I was very happy! Still am. Actually, this has been out for a month, yet I started it four days ago. OH THE IRONY!**

**Well, on with the chapter!**

_**Find a Penny, Pick It Up**_

_Heads_

His eyes opened a tiny crack before shutting again. His brain, trying to catch up with the rest of reality, was fuzzy and he couldn't figure out for the life of him what had woken him up.

He didn't hear any sounds.

No pain.

No smell.

And then he realized it. Frowning, Riku opened his eyes a tiny bit more, then half way, then fully open. Blinking, he scratched the sleep from his eyes with an unfurled hand before using it to push himself up from the ground, palms pressing down on the ice-cold stone.

He felt the thin blanket roll off of him. _He had been sleeping? _What happened to keeping guard?

But there were more pressing matters. Now that his mind had caught up with the rest of him, he registered the fact that the door was standing wide open and fresh, early morning sunlight was streaming through. The dusty rays of sun shattered the hazy state of his brain and made his eyes widen far past their normal extent. So bright, the early morning sun make him curse quietly. No, not early morning... it looked more like noon. How long had he slept?

Muttering even more curses, Riku slowly toppled to his knees. He must've been really tired to sleep that long...

But why the HELL was the door open? He hadn't opened it, which meant Sora had. And speaking of Sora...Where was the little pipsqueak?

"Sora?" Riku called softly. Standing up, he walked over to where Sora slept... but the brunette wasn't there. The raggedy blanket lay heaped in a haphazard pile, but obviously hadn't been slept in that night. Frown deepening, Riku looked around for a note. He walked slowly around the room, the corners of his mouth dipping further down with every step he took. Sora was gone without a note... the door was wide open... if the guards had come, they would've taken Riku, too. He could not have been captured.

He stopped in his tracks as his feet crunched on something. Taking a step back, Riku looked down. On the ground at his feet was a thin layer of ash, tiny, burnt scraps of paper noticeable among the black.

_Sora's been burning something._

Riku knelt down and gently picked up one of the tiny scraps of paper in his fingertips. He had a terrible feeling in his gut... something wasn't right about this... It felt like sand paper, rubbing against his fingertips as he fiddled with it idly.

He blinked. The paper had jogged something in his memory. There was something missing... he didn't feel that piece of paper in his pocket poking into his leg. _Oh no... _

His hand flew to his pocket, tiny piece of burnt paper fluttering back to the ground. No poster. He checked the other pocket. Nothing.

Did Sora... oh no... he... he saw it...

Panic welled in his stomach, spreading like poison and making him numb as he shook slightly. He was barely aware as his eyelids clenched together tightly.

Riku bit his lip hard, eyes still shut in anger. Partly at Sora for nosing around, but mostly at himself for not hiding it from the brunette. Then again, Sora would see it sooner or later. When he was walking home from the bazaar, he has seen them posted all over the walls. He was shocked that Sora wasn't captured, but he figured they wouldn't try an arrest in a crowd of people. And he didn't want to worry Sora...

But now it was all out.

Sora wasn't safe. Riku growled in frustration and he felt a coppery taste in his mouth. He briefly registered he had bit his lip so hard it bled, but that wasn't his primary concern right now. Not even close. He had to find Sora or he'd be caught for sure...

But Disney Village was a big place, thousands of people, and one teenager.

"FUCK!" Riku roared, eyes flashing. He jumped up to his feet and ran across the room in two seconds flat. And like a bullet from a gun, he ripped through the doorway, out of the curtains, and down the dusty road... to the depths of his worst nightmare.

_Tails_

His chin was tucked down as far as it could go, hiding his face from the throng of people that streamed from his left and right. It... it felt so foreign. As if what he had seen finally made the difference. What finally set him apart from other people.

_Wanted._

He... he never knew it'd get this out of hand. Now, even the slightest glimmer of hope was gone. People were finally looking for them. Wanting to throw them in jail... they had put bounty money on their heads!

It was really over now...

_They took away their grassy fields..._

Sora wanted to go home.

_Their smiling faces..._

He wanted his friend back... he wanted his parents... someone, anyone, to tell him it was all right.

_Their happy home..._

Was this really how it ended? To feel so cold, so empty... without a purpose but to be pushed and shoved by society like a puppet in a play? He felt hollow like wood, his hands and feet drawn up along the wires of fate, forced into a deadly dance for the entertainment of those around him.

Was that all he was? A puppet?

They took away his home, his family... and now they were doing it again. They were going to try and take away his home, his friend...

A never-ending dance.

And he felt like he was being watched. Watched like a puppet in a play, dancing the steps laid out by those higher then him, a useless pawn. So empty... He had come so far. THEY had come so far! And still... he understood nothing.

He knew he was being watched. He could feel their eyes on him. The words turned into whispered conversations behind their hands as they eyes narrowed at him, as if he couldn't see. As if he couldn't hear. But Sora knew, he heard, he felt... and it was all so cold.

Was this what is was like to die? To lose all hope? And it was all set off by such a tiny thing, a tiny key to opening something so much bigger. How would someone else feel, anyone else, to live by off of so little, have so much taken away, sacrifice so much... to end up on a wanted poster? It was too much to handle... it wasn't his and Riku's fault! It was theirs! Too busy basking in the glowing light of the Castle to look behind it, in it's shadows. It was like a mirror... everything was opposite. There was no happy endings, it seemed. And there never would be.

He had to make his own. But how could he do that when they were all watching him like that? When they all wanted him taken away... he was too young. His dreams were being shredded into pieces, dreams of freedom, a nice home... fields... smiles... _to feel like he was at home._

His dreams were dying hard.

_Dreams die harder, _a voice whispered in his ear, _when you let them bring you down with them._

No. It wasn't over yet. Someone was playing with him, like a toy, and he wouldn't allow it any longer. He couldn't. He would cut the strings... as soon as he found the puppeteers.

Sora nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt a hand clutch his shoulder firmly. His heart skipped several beats (it seemed to be doing that a lot lately) and he heard a familiar, comforting voice, "Relax, Sora, it's just me."

"Riku," Sora breathed in relief, finally looking up with shining blue eyes. "Don't scare me like that."

Riku gave him a cold look. "You're not the one who has the right to be saying that."

Sora felt the hair on the back of his neck, and it wasn't from Riku's look; not, that was the cause of the goose bumps. No, this was something else.

Eyes slowing maneuvering around his, Sora saw that they had caught the stares of the other civilians. Most of the looks they were getting were as angry as Riku's. Others look frightened. Others nervous.

"Let's get out of here," Riku muttered, hand tightening on Sora's shoulder, making him wince.

Sora let his friend steer him away from the silent group of people. He had to jog to keep up with Riku long, brisk strides, and he had begun to work up a sweat by the time they had reached the deserted part of town.

It was a deadly quiet, the only sound being their hurried footsteps. Sora had never seen Riku act like this before... it was scary. He could almost see the steam pouring out from his ears, and it was very unnerving.

Riku stopped so suddenly Sora ran right into the older teen. Shaking his head, Sora took a hasty step back. Riku's eyes were boring into his eyes, flashing with rage, fury, and... guilt...

"Riku...?" Sora whispered hesitantly when Riku failed to say anything.

"Don't you ever..." Riku hissed in a low voice, "ever, ever run off like that again, Sora..."

Sora blinked. He had expected Riku to yell at him. To be furious at him for leaving without a note, for not waking the elder one up, for not doing _something_...

"I'm sorry, Sora..." Riku whispered sadly. The flames in his eyes were going out fast, replaced by a look that made Sora squirm with uncertainty. He looked... so empty. So sad... and Sora hated that.

"I... I couldn't protect you, Sora... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..."

_Heads_

"So let me get this straight... you need our help to catch _kids?"_

"Yes, Yuffie! Rub it in all ya want, but we need some help."

"The Royal Guards couldn't handle a couple of _kids?_"

"Erm, they're teenagers, actually..."

King Mickey never got the chance to finish his sentence. The ninja had doubled over in laughter, clutching her stomach.

"Yuffie, shut up," a tall man with long brown hair muttered. His face was set in what looked like a permanent frown and his steely gray eyes flashed dangerously in her direction. He had on leather pants with a multitude of long, drooping brown belts that hung off of his hips. He wore a white t-shirt with a black t-shirt hanging off of it. Over it was a thick chain with a large lion pendant on it and, strapped to his back, was a gigantic sword that looked like a gun at the hilt.

But Yuffie continued to giggle, eyes bright with laughter as she tried to calm herself down. She had on short khaki shorts with a brown belt looping down to her thigh, katana secured in the pouches that lined the brown strap of leather. She had on long socks that almost came to her knee and brown shoes on her small feet. She wore a green tank top and s sleeveless green jacket that stopped right after her bare midriff. A headband wrapped around her skull and two feathers stuck out of short black hair.

"Sorry," she laughed, the corners of her eyes still crinkled in laughter. Her eyes danced merrily, a wide grin spread on her face in mirth, showing bright white teeth.

King Mickey sighed, scratching the back of his head. "That's all right," he said. "But if you don't mind, we need to get down to business."

"And what is business?" a sullen looking blond murmured. "Honestly, you're paying us to hunt down two teenagers?"

King Mickey huffed impatiently at the tall blond. He had black jeans on that was covered in slip, belts and chains. He had on a dark shirt, another black leather jacket with short arm on him. He had a large black glove on one hand a s smaller one on the other. He, too, had a sword, this one attached to his hips. It had a wide, thick blade that was wrapped in cloth, some of the shiny metal poking through the bonds.

"Yes, Cloud," Mickey muttered. "Two teenagers." Clearing his throat, he said, "These were the ones I was telling you about! The ones who've been here for nine years...?"

"Oh yeah, I remember them!" she nodded happily. Everyone looked around at Yuffie, who continued to grin happily. "The ones on the wanted posters, right?"

"Right," King Mickey nodded.

"Heeheehee, I saw them just the other day!"

"..."

"..."

"...what did you just say?"

"I said," she huffed impatiently, "that I saw them the other day!" Turning back to her uber happy mood, she went on, "Yeah, the really sexy one with the silver hair and the cute little brown-haired boy! I saw them at the market!"

"And you didn't bring them here because...?" Cloud coaxed.

She shrugged, continuing to smile. "The little guy gave me the cutest puppy dog look and the other one was... well, he was just being hot! I couldn't arrest them!"

"DAMNIT, YUFFIE!"

King Mickey sighed, slapping a hand to his forehead and slowly shaking his head. "I can't believe this," he muttered. "This isn't an arrest attempt. It's a joke."

"Ohh, a joke?" Yuffie exclaimed happily. "I wanna hear a joke!"

"Yuffie. Be quiet," Leon commanded softly. She shut up immediately, and he went on, "And what do you want us to do about this? Go hunt them down and drag them here?"

"Well, um, if it comes down to that," King Mickey said sadly. "But I'd much rather this first plan work; I don't wanna hurt 'em!"

"They've been stealing for nine years!" Yuffie exclaimed. "And you don't' want to HURT them?"

"But they're only kids!" Mickey protested. "No matter what they did, I'd rather them come here un-harmed, got it?"

He got glum nods as a response. What a shame. They felt like beating something up.

"So what's the plan, mouse?" Leon muttered.

King Mickey flashed a grin. "We've found their hideout," he said proudly. "It's in a hidden room in a warehouse behind the old abandoned pottery shop down on Fifth Street. The guards are having a stakeout there right now, and all we have to do is wait for them to walk in."

_Tails_

"Protect me?" Sora whispered. "Riku...? Protect me from what?"

His ragged breaths filled the silent, air fighting it's way into his rapidly beating chest to be exhaled twice as fast. The teen had a dead look in his eyes, so much uncertainty, worry. Years of bad decisions trickling through his eyes, down his cheeks, over his arms, to the ground. Seeping into the dusty dirt road and sucking the oxygen from the air.

So hard to breath.

So quiet.

_...Mom...? Mom?... Dad... Riku..._

_Save me..._

"Riku...?"

"...everything..." Riku whispered. "For all of this shit. I didn't mean... for it to go this far..."

"Neither of us did," Sora reminded him softly. He rested a hand gently on his best friends shoulder. "Everything'll be okay. You'll see; we've gotten through worse..."

And then a grip as tight of steel cracked down on Sora's thin wrist.

"No, we haven't!"

Sora winced in pain as Riku gripped his arm harshly, the blood coming to a halt just short of his hand. "Ow, Riku..."

"Don't say that! How can you smile?"

"Riku, you're hurting me..."

"How can you do it, Sora?"

"Please..."

"TELL ME!"

"Let me GO!"

Riku blinked in surprise, snapped out of his fit of anger as Sora twisted his wrist and yanked it free of Riku's hold. The skin was burning red and Sora rubbed it gingerly, wincing before turning to glare up at his best friend. "What the fuck is your problem?"

The flames dancing in Riku's eyes grew smaller and smaller, his muscles slowly relaxing from their painful tension. His face was still white as paper, tiny beads of sweat running down his face quickly, dipping into the crescents of his eyes before drawing down his cheeks, trickling down his neck.

Breath still coming out in sharp pangs, he managed to squeeze out the words, "I'm sorry..."

There was a tense silence. The sun was still high and beating down their necks, but neither seemed to notice. Their was a nauseous, rumbling feeling rolling in their stomach. Partly because of their argument, another because they couldn't shake off the feeling... that they were being watched.

"Let's... let's just calm down," Riku breathed, running a shaking hand through his silver tresses.

Ignoring the fact that Riku had been the one who had just exploded, not him, SOra offered his best friend a feeble smile. "Let's just go inside, kay? Then we can talk this over."

Riku twitched a bit. "You're actually willing to crawl back into that little hell hole?"

"Hey, that little hell hole is our home," Sora huffed, pouting. "Besides," he gestured around the street with a thin arm, "it's a bit more private."

Riku chuckled. "Yeah, Sora," he agreed. "Let's go inside so all the invisible people crowd around us."

It took a moment or two before Sora finally got it, and when he did, he began to pout. "Hey!" he scowled.

He followed the silver-haired teen through the battered doorway, brushing the musty sheet aside to allow him entrance. "That wasn't funny, Riku."

His friend didn't reply.

Sora frowned. "Riku...?"

And then Sora stepped through the final doorway and blinked.

There was Riku. Stiff and frozen as a statue, back facing him.

And another dozen pairs of eyes gleaming at him evilly from inside of the room.

**_The guards!_**

_**Chapter End**_

**I am so sorry! I haven't updated in such a long time! It's all my fault; I put my personal shit before my writing and I'm sorry T-T. This chapter got deleted and I had to re-write it... and it's my fault. I don't even have enough in me to ask you for a forgiveness, let alone reviews.**

**So... I'm really, really sorry. But the next three chapters are easy to write and WILL be coming out weekly! I swear.**


	5. All Day Long You'll Have Good Luck

**WAI! Fourteen reviews! (thrill joy thrill) And this is only the second day since I posted! I'm SO HAPPY! So therefore, I decided to post this a bit early . This chapter is broken up into three parts. So it'll take two or three weeks for you guys to read all of it, but I'm sure you don't mind, ne? (winks)**

**By the way, I'm have a question. More out of curiosity, really. The title means something that ties in with the whole story and, if you figure out what it really means, you'll get a good idea of what's coming up in this story! Good luck!**

_**And All Day Long You'll Have Good Luck**_

_**Part 1**_

_Heads_

Twelve pairs of eyes glared out from the darkness. Twelve mouths narrowed into deep smirks. Twenty-four legs hunched, ready to spring. A dozen katana, sharpened to the deadliest of points, facing the last place Sora wanted them to.

Their necks.

Sora's feet were frozen to the floor. His arms weighed a ton and drug down heavily at the sockets that connected the limbs to his torso. His mouth was open a good foot. He had to be asleep. This was a nightmare. He should know.

He's had this nightmare many times before.

His worst enemies couldn't be standing in the one place he had ever thought safe enough to be home. His worst enemies couldn't have scared the bravest person he knew into a living statue. And his worst enemies DEFINETLY were not saying the following:

"All right, boys. Just take it nice and easy... raise your hands up where we can see them..."

And then they did the most idiotic thing two teenage boys in their position could possibly do.

They raised their hands slowly...

"That's it, boys, no one needs to get hurt..."

...and then they ran like Hell.

"HEY! Get back here!"

"RUN, SORA!"

What did Riku THINK he was doing? Offering them TEA?

And biscuits?

Sora was hungry. He'd like a biscuit.

But not right now!

Riku and Sora darted out of the building at top speed, their sandals flapping sharply, alternating between the soles of their feet and the hard, rock studded road. The sun was still blaring above them, meaning it couldn't have been past noon.

And it was so hot, it made Sora wonder how anyone could stand being in leather. But the man standing not a few yards in front of him, large, shiny blade in hand, didn't look like he'd be bothered with anything.

The man standing to his left didn't look too bothered either, even with the massive amounts of metal embedded into his uniform.

And the girl... well, her lack of clothes assured that she was kept reasonably cool.

Sora dug his heels into the dirt, momentum carrying him a good foot before the arm of his best friend was shot out in front of him, affectively stopping him in his tracks. Riku then clasped at Sora's shirt, fist clenching tightly at the feeble fabric and spinning him around in the other direction.

His blue eyes widened at the sight of the dozen guards running towards them, the ones who had situated themselves inside of their 'home'.

They were trapped between three oddly dressed people, a small crowd of large guards, an abandoned well and a renovated woodshop.

Peachy.

Sora's eyes darted over to the older teens, and he wasn't surprised to see the calm, cool look on his best friends face. His jewel-bright eyes glinted in the sunlight as whirls of ideas rushed through his brains, bad thoughts rushing out of his system and trickling down his pale skin with the sweat that had gathered at his brow.

They were all going to be okay, Sora knew it.

"Just don't run and you'll be all right..." a deep, calming voice behind them warned. A quick glance behind him told Sora that it was the blonde who was wearing a lot of metal. Honestly, how did that guy LIVE in this heat?

But Riku was...

"Just keep still..."

...smirking...?

"Sora..."

"Hey! No talking!"

"Do it."

"I said cut it out!"

"...Riku..."

"Keep your hands where we can see them and slowly back away from each other!"

"I made a promise to you, Sora."

"No sudden movements now..."

A gulp. A thin layer of fear-induced sweat. Wide eyes.

"I'll protect you."

"You'll be okay..."

"Riku..."

"NOW!"

"HOLD IT!"

And with shocked cerulean eyes, Sora watched as his best friend charged into the hoard of guards.

Time seemed to slow. He felt something slowly clamp down on his thin wrist with a bruising force, he saw Riku twisting the wrist of a guard and relieving him of his sword, then twirling around to block another weapon. He felt his arms being yanked behind his back, his shoulders hitching backwards in a painful position.

But Sora was not giving up, oh no. Riku was still fighting. Then why the HELL was Sora standing here like an idiot?

With an animal-like growl, Sora twisted his wrists sharply and heard the person, female from the sound of it, gasp in shock. The metal from her fingerless gloves left little welts in his skin, but he didn't concentrate on that. He flipped his hands and grabbed onto her wrists and then, leaped up into the air.

He caught a brief glimpse of black hair and a blur of green and yellow before his feet blocked the view. And with as much strength as Sora could muster, Sora kicked out at his victim's back. Hard. He didn't let go of her wrists until they were forcibly dragged from his grasp by his own strength.

"Yuffie!" Sora heard a voice shout. And that voice was very close. Not wanting to face those tall, strong-looking men all by himself, Sora quickly retreated towards a safer battle with the guards, feet kicking up dusty clouds of dirt as he quickly darted away from the teenage girl who was on the ground, holding a hand to her back and face contorted in pain.

Meanwhile, Riku was fending for himself quite well.

From the first moment he had started his brutal, and completely idiotic, attack, he only had the one thought running through his head. It had kept him going for years, and it was going to keep him going now.

And now here he was. He grabbed onto the wrist of a large, bulky man who didn't look like he could even hold himself up properly, let alone a katana. So Riku decided to put the poor weapon out of it's misery. He grabbed onto the man's beefy wrist and twisted it; he though he heard a dull _crack_, but he wouldn't swear on it. The porky fingers loosened considerably, letting Riku grab the sword from the guard.

The wire hilt was hot and sticky from the man's sweaty palms, but Riku held fast and swung it in an upwards thrust, effectively blocking another's attack.

_There's a microscopically thin line between being brilliantly creative and being the biggest moron on the planet, _Riku thought grimly. _So what the hell? I'll make the leap._

And he did.

Riku swung the shining blade up above his head as someone swung clumsily at him. Either they were underestimating him or they were just plain stupid.

Either way, it would be the last mistake they ever made.

He felt a sharp pain in his side and he winced as something warm drenched through his flimsy cream shirt. Not wasting a moment to inspect his injury, Riku swung his blade over his shoulder, feeling the hilt slip from his hands.

A scream was all he needed to know that he had gotten his target. Flinging his hand back, he grabbed onto the sword that was now lodged into the thick guards side (Riku doubted if it would even be fatal), he swung his body up and planted a heavy kick into a gangly man's chest, sending him flying back a good few feet before landing hard in the ground.

Swinging his legs up after the kick, Riku landed behind the injured man, yanking the blood-stained sword out with him as another blood-curdling scream rang out through the air.

Riku saw a blur of white and brown to his left, but didn't give it much mind; Sora could defend himself. Riku himself had trained the brunette how to defend himself, so he shouldn't fare to bad...

...he hoped.

There was a started "Oof!" as another guard went down, another soon after. Sora wasn't doing too bad, actually.

Riku slammed the butt end of his sword into the skull of another and it made a sickening crack before the tall man fell into a boneless heap on the ground, unconscious. There had to be five left, no more. And there goes another one. And there... comes another one?

Riku blinked, hesitating for a fraction of a second. There were eight... no, ten... fifteen...

Oh no...

Sora blinked in confusion. He had spared a quick glimpse over at Riku, just to see how he was faring, when he saw it.

_Fear._

Gulping, Sora's eyes darted towards the directions in which Riku's frightened gaze was focused. And there, no more then three or four dozen guards were scrambling over the slopey hills of the deserted street, swords held high and glinting with a deadly glow in the hot evening sun.

Anything else wrong? Yeah, just one thing.

There was something very sharp and very fast flying straight at him.

Sora flung his body to the right as something zoomed by him, snaring his shirt and leaving a long, clean cut tear in his shirt. Shocked, Sora whirled around to see the tall, black-haired girl standing there, smirk in place. Her gloved hand ws already dug into the pouch on her brown belt, readying another throwing star.

"Our turn!"

Sora let out a yelp of surprise as, some way or another, a ball of flame flew at his leg. He scrambled back, falling down in the progress. His eyes were wide, reflecting the flames of the wooden barrel that was engulfed by bright red and orange flames.

What the fuck?

Riku's eyes narrowed at the shaggy-haired brunette, who had a determined, cold gaze in his sharp gray eyes, gripping tightly a long blade that had the hilt of a gun. He had watched as a tight ball of flames blossomed from the end of the lethal looking weapon, and harpooned at his best friend who had just missed it.

Then, something thin and tight wrapped around his torso, pinning his arms to his sides, one, two, three times. His feet skidded on the dirt as he twirled from the momentum of the thin cable until he felt two small, but strong hands grip his shoulders.

"That hurt."

He blinked into the deep brown eyes of the smirking ninja, who looked like the cat who had caught the mouse. She let her fingers entwine in a loose tuff of his silver hair and she tugged a little. "Heehee, you're a hot one..."

Riku lifted his arms in vein, trying to release himself from the tight hold of the wire, but to no avail. He was just debating on whether or not to actually do something so amateur as to step on her foot when he saw Sora dart in front of him, the brunettes back facing Riku.

Riku blinked as Sora suddenly leapt to the side and a thick, heavy silver katana sliced through the air, the gauze wrapped around the weapon flapping from the speed, and it sliced down in front of Riku.

Seeing the opportunity immediately, Riku took a small step forward and let the blade slash at him. The silver-haired teen didn't even wince as the blade sliced into his skin, causing hot red blood to bubble from his pale, scarred skin. The blade had sliced off the rope, and that was exactly what Sora had hoped for.

He hadn't anticipated Riku getting hurt, but it was a small price to pay.

Sora's breath quickened as he took in the scene before him, letting out a cry of pain as one of the guards blades cut sharply into his shoulder. Sora twisted his leg so that his ankle was behind the guard's and gave a sharp pull, sending the man down to the ground.

There were too many of them! More and more guards were coming from the Castle, there had to be at least twenty here now! They were woefully untrained, but anything can be dangerous if there was enough of it.

And then there were the other three to worry about. Riku was now trying to fight off the blonde, who kept o ricocheting off of the walls and slamming into Riku with a brutal force. The older teen wasn't down yet, but Sora had a bad feeling he would be soon if the brunette couldn't help.

The tall one with brown hair had gone to aid the blond (as if he needed help) in apprehending Riku. Sora was beginning to think they were in real danger; the two men, that is. Riku looked angrier then a stung boar and he was finally getting some hits of his own, setting Cloud's cape on fire when Leon threw fire at him and hitting Leon over the head with his own Gunblade.

But... where was the girl?

"WHEE!"

Oh, there she was!

"ACK!" Sora cried as one hundred twenty pounds of ninja slammed into him, sending him sailing into the wall. His head throbbed sharply, body going numb as multi-colored dots flew in and out of focus.

"Oooog..." Sora groaned, rubbing his head and stumbling a bit.

"Now I've got you!" Yuffie cried triumphantly. "You... you...!"

Sora blinked, confused. "Whaaaa..."

"Aww, how can I hurt you?" Yuffie squealed, hands clasping in front of her as she jumped up and down. "You're sooo cute!"

From behind them, the gray-eyed man groaned and smacked his hand to his forehead. "Yuffie!" he snapped, "get him!"

"Heehee, okie dokie Squall!" Yuffie chirped in a sing-song voice.

"For the last time, it's LEON!"

But this 'Yuffie' never got the chance to strike Sora down, for the brunette took her moment of delay as an ideal opportunity. His hand flew out and grabbed the gloves wrist she was carrying a coil of thin rope in and, upon closer inspection, tiny little strands of metal were strung in it for extra strength.

"What the...?"

The teenage ninja didn't' get another word in edge wise as Sora yanked the cord out of her hands and with a resounding _snap_, unfurled it. Holding it tightly in his two hands, he swung it high and circled it around her torso once, binding it tightly in a quick not before circling the stuff around her more.

But she had more in surprise for him. With a sharp snort, she bent her knees and then jumped up and kicked, catching Sora underneath the chin.

Sora was lucky to not get a broken jaw and he grunted in pain, but didn't let her go. He could feel blood flow freely from his mouth where he had been forced to bite his tongue and inner cheek. The rich, metallic taste made him dizzy for half a second before he got back into action.

With a harsh tug, he wrapped it around her one more time and yanked, pulling her upper body down, legs soon following. As she plummeted to the ground, he wound it tightly around a wooden post. And then, for good measure, he cracked a barrel with his foot and sent it sailing over her, affectively pinning her underneath the heavy weight of wood, metal, and sawdust.

"Leon, Cloud!" Yuffie cried in distress, desperately struggling against her pell-mell prison. "Help!"

Breathing heavily, Sora quickly dragged a hand over his face to rid his gaze of soggy bangs. Leon was marching towards him, a murderous glint in his eyes. But Sora didn't focus on that. He only saw Riku.

Or rather, what state Riku was in after fighting the two men at once.

His cream shirt was now a dark red, thoroughly soaked with the teens blood. Blood dribbled freely down his back, down his light brown pants and into the ground below, staining it into a dark burgundy shadow. Riku's body was covered in sweat that was tinted red from blood, and his eyes were tired, haunted looking. Almost like... he was giving up.

But his movements were no less quicker, no less furious. Even the blonde he was fighting with was beginning to take pity, landing fewer and fewer blows. But Riku took this as a chance to land more of his.

And this, more then anything else, was what fueled Sora to do what he did.

Clenching his teeth, some blood leaking through the cracks between his teeth, Sora charged forward, arms pumping quickly at his sides and legs a blur.

Leon didn't even have any time to reach out an arm to stop Sora in his tracks as the boy ran towards his best friends.

Riku's hair was beginning to slowly get a red tint from the blood seeping from a gas in his head, the sweat making it slide over his face like oil over water. Blood seeped into his eyes, and out of the corners, making bloody tears that left salty tracks down his cheeks.

Riku was grateful for it. No one would know he was crying now.

Crying from the pain as the gashes from yesterday opened, fresh blood leaking from beneath the scabbing. It added to his pain as his skin was ripped asunder, fresh wounds criss-crossing old ones and tearing through old and new scars, making way for new ones.

_Gods, it hurts!_

But Riku kept on fighting. If he didn't, then who would? He still had that though in his head. And it kept him going.

_Make it stop..._

It took a few moments for Riku to realize he was no longer fighting The stolen sword had slid from his grasp and, numbly, he realized he was running. More like being dragged.

"C'mon, Riku!" Sora hissed. "We have to go!"

Sora was... running?

Oh wait... so was he.

"Riku, _move!_"

Reality tore through the painful haze that had started to fog over his mind. Shaking his head, Riku began to run on his own, breath coming out in short, painful gasps. He had twisted his left ankle and a long gash ran down his leg from his thigh to his calf, splattering dark red blood everywhere with every step he took. It wept through his flip flops, making sick sucking sounds as they began to stick to his heels. The sun burned down, and Riku felt like he was baking in the sun; the heat made the stench of blood stronger, and more vile.

His stomach churned and his muscles burned. But he kept on going. Spilled blood made him hotter, wounds shooting dizzying amounts of pain up his body.

They were in the main part of town now, and Riku knew Sora had as much of a clue as to where they were gong as he did. They were trapped by hundreds of eyes, and Sora could feel them breathing down their necks.

_"The guards are finally catching up to them!"_

_"Someone help that poor boy! Look at the blood!"_

_"About time they were taught a lesson!"_

_"Someone help them!"_

_"Let the guards catch them!"_

_"This isn't right! They're only children!"_

_"Children who made the wrong choice!"_

Oh if they only knew.

Riku couldn't keep going. He was going too slow and the guards would catch up to them at any moment. Sora was going slow only so Riku could keep up, but the silver-haired teen wouldn't let is stay that way.

"Sora," Riku gasped, small spurts of blood leaking out from the corners of his mouth. "I can't... I can't..." He coughed.

"Yes you can, Riku!" Sora said in a distressed voice, trying to convince Riku as well as himself. "We have to keep going!"

"No!" Riku snapped. "We have to split up!"

"No!" Sora protested. More people gathered; they were getting closer to the Castle Gates. "You knows they'll catch you!"

"And if we keep going this slow, they'll catch us both!" Riku snapped. His lungs burned from lack of air and he could feel a few droplets of blood drip down his dry throat, making him close to gagging. "Sora, when we get to the Castle Gates, we split. You go left, I'll go right!"

He could hear the shouts of the guards and the others now, he cold smell them. Feel them in his skin. In his bones.

"Go, Sora!" Riku gasped. "Go now! I'll see you again, we'll get through this! I promise!"

"You promise...?" Sora whimpered. They were almost there.

"I promise!" Riku said in a raspy voice. "Now run! Run as fast as you can! Find someplace safe and stay there!"

And with a burst of energy, Sora exploded from Riku's side, legs carrying him at top speed down the left wall. Within seconds, Sora was out of sight as he dodged into an alley well known by the two thieves.

Riku made a right, stumbling as he still ran. He heard the shouts closer now... yes, they were going for him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a few dart to the left in attempts to bring in Sora, but once that boy was out of sight, you didn't have a snowball's chance in Hell finding him.

Riku was getting slower. He saw a few guards cutting down an alley; they were going to ram him into the wall. If he could just go up a bit further, he could escape that. Just a bit further... further...

Too late. Pain exploded in his left side and he felt a scream tear it's way out of his throat as a heavy-set guard rammed him into the hard stone wall, head cracking on the cement. He felt his arm and a few ribs finally crack, not standing a chance at the powerful impact.

Slowly, Riku slid to the ground, leaving a bloody smear on the wall. He fell into a boneless heap at the guards feet, eyes closing gently. He heard the dull thud of heavy boots and screams pierced the air. A few may have been his as the guards harshly slammed feet into his battered body in painful kicks. Another rib was gone, this one ripping through the tender flesh of his chest. He felt the sharp, splintered bone pierce through his skin, a flower of the brightest red blooming on his already red-stained shirt.

He saw dark shapes before his eyes as someone grabbed his arms, hulling him to his feet. Their grip was so hard, too hard. His broken arm was twisted at an awkward angle and being held harshly behind his torn back. He struggled to relieve himself of the painful position, but fell limp a moment later. Someone had landed a heavy punch into his stomach, knocking the wind from his sore lungs. He choked and gasped for air, knees giving way and buckling beneath him.

More shouts. These ones angry, but he couldn't make out what they were screaming. But whoever it was, they didn't sound happy at all.

Riku was beginning to shake. He knew he'd go into shock soon; he'd lost too much blood, and more continued to gush from his wounds. His vision was blurred crimson. The only thing keeping him standing was the powerful, painful grip someone had on his forearms.

He couldn't feel his arms anymore.

He couldn't feel his legs.

He felt nothing. Nothing but fear. For his life, fear For Sora's... he had to protect Sora from these people. It was all Riku's fault, not the brunette's. It was never Sora's fault. All Riku's...

_All mine..._

And then the pain in his arms returned, and Riku realized that they had let him go. Someone had placed a hand to his heaving chest and pushed back gently. Riku collapsed into a strong arm that had been placed around his shoulders, and he felt another arm slide beneath his legs and lift him up.

Riku hadn't even noticed he had closed his eyes. With a small groan, he cracked an eye open. The sun was till glaring down at him, making him feel dizzy. Or was it because of blood loss? Whatever it was... it made him so confused.

And as he felt a gentle wind sweep at his face, and a harsh rocking, Riku knew he was being carried somewhere... but he didn't know. He could still hear the angry shouts, but they sounded more afraid now. Afraid for what? For him?

They couldn't be afraid for him... there was nothing wrong with him.

Just something wrong with everything. The light still blared at full force... it burned so badly. It was only light... and Riku was so afraid of it.

His thought still burned strong.

_"I promise..."_

More shouts. The light from the suns rays was blocked, but now he was bathed in more colors. Blinking lightly, Riku watched as he was carried through a marble hallway.

_"I promise you..."_

Light from the sun shown through the stained glass, casting shadows of every color spilling over Riku's battered body.

_"I promise you, that no matter how bad it gets..."_

Someone was calling someone's name. But not his. They couldn't know his name... he wasn't sure if even he remembered it anymore.

He felt warm.. something warm spreading from within his heart... memories flashing before his eyes. Was this what it was like? Was this what it was like to die? If so, it wasn't that bad. It felt sort of nice...

_"...no matter how bad it gets..."_

He could see Sora's face... was he okay? Was he safe? Or was he as hurt as RIku was? Riku? That's who he was... that was his name...

But not _him_.

_"...I'll be right here for you..."_

The motion stopped. He was being laid down on something soft and warm. Faces swam in and out of view, the teen never getting a good picture of just one. They went by too fast... too blurry...

And the light shined. In so many different colors.

And Riku smiled a bit.

_"...we'll never be apart..."_

A tiny trail was traced down his cheek, made by the purest substance on Earth. Tangible emotion streaked his face, red completely absent...

_"...no matter what, Sora... I'll always protect you..."_

Riku's eyes slipped close.

_"...I'm right here for you, Sora."_

But where are you?

And Riku slipped away into unconsciousness.

_**Chapter End**_

**Well that was a ton of fun to write! I hope you all liked it; it was very long! YAY!**

**C'mon! Didn't that deserve a review? It may not have been good to you, but I liked it. Could you tell me what you think? Please?**


	6. Penny For Your Thoughts

**Twelve hours of sleep equals a very happy writer!**

**Wow! Thank you so much for all of your reviews! It made me so happy, coming online to see all these reviews! Heehee, thank you so much! I hope you like this chapter, I wroked hard on it! One more part and then... well, yeah, you'll see.**

**This chapter's dedicated to Fire (EleqantArrow 64) in hopes she'll stop being mad at me for killing off a three-year old. I didn't mean to, Fire! Except for the fact that, ya know, I kinda did.**

**READ ON!**

_**Penny for Your Thoughts**_

_**Part 2**_

_Tails_

Damn, damn, damn!

Footstep, footstep, run, run, run...

"DAMN IT!"

A stumble and he was sent flying over the fallen article of trash and into the hard dirt road. He felt something warm trickle down his knee and his head spun, vision slurring into a pastel of dark cream colors.

Blood. So much blood. Oh God, was he okay? What had he been thinking, letting those people take Riku? Sora should have kept with his best friend; what if he was dying? Dying in some lonely dungeon, calling out his name, looking for a last ray of hope that had been cut off when Sora had made that damn left?

Sora lay there for a few moments, allowing himself a few moments to regain a bit of his energy. No one had been able to keep up with him, so he was safe for the moment.

But Riku wasn't, and therefore Sora wasn't. He had to think of a plan, and he had to think of one _now_!

Frowning, Sora grunted as he planted his palms firmly to the ground and pushed himself up to his knees. Dirt clung to his face like dust to velvet, tears making muddy streaks as they slid down the contours of his cheek bones and dribbling down his chin.

He had to get into that Castle. Gah, he was going to attempt to break into the one place he had been avoiding like the plague for all of these years! Not to mention the hundreds of guards who swarmed around the places like bees to sugar in the hot summer heat.

He had to think of a way in, but he couldn't remember Riku ever mentioning a way to get into the Castle. Whenever Sora brought the topic up, about the Castle, Riku would glare at him and not answer, promptly ignoring Sora for the rest of the day, and sometimes the day after.

He struggled to stand on his feet, and he had to lean against the wall to hold himself up; his knees were shaking badly. Taking another precious moment to regain his composure, Sora swept a dirty hand through his matted brown hair, frowning.

When in doubt, use what you have. That's what Riku had always told him, so Sora guessed this was one of the times to put that theory to good use.

But what did he have? The guards were probably still staking out his and Riku's hiding spot, waiting for the brunette to return. No, that was no use.

What else did he have? He had a dollar bill folded and tucked safely away into the pocket of his pants, but he couldn't exactly walk into the castle and say, "Hey, here's a dollar! You mind letting my friend go now so we can make our getaway?"

Even Sora wasn't that naive.

And then it hit him like a ton of bricks. Sora blinked at the sudden splash of inspiration. Of course, it was perfect! But there was a fatal flaw...

...it went against absolutely every thought, every idea, every fact he has ever learned about Disney Castle. It went against all of his beliefs, all of his morals. It sounded crazy when he thought of it, and it still sounded crazy.

It was insane. It could never work. This was not how Sora was taught, not what Riku had told him about the people in Disney.

And yet, he was running like a maniac towards the market, as fast as his tired legs could carry him.

It was insane.

He stopped at the alley way.

But so was this whole mess.

He ducked into the dim corridor.

And then he shattered his whole way of life.

_Heads_

Ouch.

That was the very first thought that ran through his head. Ouch. He would have said it out loud if his lips hadn't been too numb to move.

Too bad the rest of him didn't feel that way.

His chest was on fire, white hot pain licking his pale skin. Riku's back was being torn asunder over and over and over again until it was a bloody mash of shredded skin. Legs were being prodded with blunt needles over and over again, thick waves of pain being washed over him with each passing second.

And Riku could have sworn gravity had increased by at least ten times.

Just to make sure he was still living, Riku tried to say something. Anything.

"Muurgh..."

Okay, that wasn't a word. But it was close enough.

Summoning up all of the strength he could muster, Riku slowly creaked one eye open. A moment later, he quickly shut it again with a small groan. There was the most blinding light glaring at his face, and a huge black bug staring down at him.

He heard voices that sent dull throbs through his ears, and it sounded as if coming from hundreds of miles away,

"Yuffie, get that thing out of his face!"

"Aww, but I wanna wake him up!"

The second voice had a higher pitch and it made him wince in discomfort. He shifted slightly, but stopped immediately at the intense pain it brought him.

"Look, he's awake!" That damn voice again!

"...I'll go get Aerith." This one was deeper, calmer. Riku heard waves crashing, but he couldn't, for the life of him, figure out where that noise was coming from. Then again, he also heart a thousand tiny sirens going off and cracking of thunder, so he knew it was just his brain playing some random sounds affects.

Then, something smooth slipped along his chin, a gentle finger teasing his lower lip open. Something cold and glassy was pressed at the tip of his mouth and slowly, a cool and minty liquid flowed into his mouth.

His eyes squinted shut at the strong flavor, but he didn't have enough strength to move away. He sputtered a bit, but gave most of the drink passage to his stomach. He felt a drop of the cool liquid slide down his dirty cheek, leaving a trail of ice in it's wake.

As the bottle was withdrawn from his lips, Riku could feel the of the drug taking affect. It spread like wild fire, although in a semi-comforting way. It began at his throat, easing the pain away into a gentle numbness. Then the rest of his body followed suit. The pain faded away into a dull throb, then a gentle pulse, until it ceased to feel at all.

The fire in his chest was extinguished, gravity slowly returned to normal, and the brightness of the room lowered into a gentle cream. The blurred figures he had mistaken for large insects sharpened into actual people. Well, mostly people. One appeared to be very short, with two large disks sprouting from his head...

...and a tail...

...oh _fuck_ no!

It all came rushing back to him in a tidal wave of thoughts. His eyes widened to twice their size and coldness grasped at his lungs. With a frightened gasp, Riku sat bolt upright.

The coldness was replaced by warmth, and he couldn't figure out why. He felt a tickling sensation on his back, though.

"Aerith, it's bleeding again!"

A firm hand---no, two of them---were placed on his chest and someone tried no force him back down. But Riku kicked his legs out, the flimsy sheet that had been covering him flying off the bed to reveal blood-soaked trousers, and a dark burgundy shirt that had once been white.

He twisted his torso, and the warmth kept on flowing, the tingle in his back beginning to get unpleasant as it started to break through the numbness.

"Please, calm down!" a feminine voice said, fear laced within her tone. But Riku was too busy thrashing against a brunette's strong hold to care or notice.

"NO!" Riku cried, his head twisting this way and that. His hands flew up and he tried to push the growling man away, what little strength he has left going into the assault. "Let GO!"

"Damn it, Aerith!" Riku's captor growled, still trying to contain the distressed teen. "Get the needle!"

Riku could hear the shifting of glass objects, his scared breathing heavy even to his own ears, and the creaks of the bed as he continued to fight for all he was worth.

And then something cold pressed into his thin right arm, cool sparks trickling through his veins. A new kind of numbness spread through him, this one slower and much more affective. Instead of taking away only his pain, it took away his energy, as well.

The hands that had been tugging at Leon's slowly lost it's strength until he was barely holding on. The will to stay sitting up was slowly being withdrawn and he felt himself being pushed back down onto the bed, no more energy left to help Riku lift himself up once more.

His breathing still came out in short gasps, and he kept his eyes tightly clenched. Maybe if he didn't see them, they'd go away. God that was stupid. Riku blamed the drugs.

Someone was talking to him slowly, as if he were a frightened child. That calm, soothing voice, minus the fear this time. Riku clenched his teeth tightly; he wasn't a child.

"There's no need to be afr---"

"I'm not a four-year-old, you know, so cut the baby talk." His voice was slightly hoarse, but still quite clear. He fought to remain consciousness even though his whole mind cried for him to sleep; if he had to deal with these people, he'd do it now and get it over with.

With a heavy, resigned sigh, he opened his eyes for the third time. The room, he saw, was painted a light cream with tiny flower decals embedded on the bottom lining. Two large windows faced his bed, thick white drapes slung half-way over them. Riku realized he couldn't have been asleep for long; the sun was just dipping behind the line of buildings, meaning it was some time around high noon.

Or he could have just cut that crap and looked at the clock by the door (which was hut and, most likely, bolted) which read 6:50.

His eyes scanned over the faces of the four people, and one mouse, in the room, gaze never lingering on one person for more then one second. He recognized the blonde and Yuffie immediately, along with Leon, who still had his palms pressed against Riku's chest, just in case. There was a tall woman nearby, her green eyes shining with worry. She wore her thick brown in a braid that ran down her back, soft bangs curling down the sides of her face. She had on an ankle-length pink dress on with a white jacket firmly fastened around her torso.

And then... there was the rat. Riku couldn't figure out what the hell gave these people the idea that he wanted to see the King! Especially now! A thief who was immobile in a bed and gravely injured.

These people made no sense.

King Mickey was dressed casually, or what he probably considered normal. He had on dark blue pants with red streaks going down the sides and a belt looping around the rim. A yellow t-shirt was covered with a jacket that matched the pants. (More detail would be given if the author weren't so awkward with describing a kick-ass outfit for a MOUSE)

"Are you calm now?" Leon hissed, steely gray eyes glaring into Riku's green ones.

The teen just glared right back. "What do you think?" he hissed through gritted teeth.

Riku waited impatiently until Leon finally removed his hands and took a step back, casually leaning against the wall and crossing his arms over his chest. His intense gaze did not lessen, and it made Riku twitch in discomfort.

"All right, then," the brunette said in what she obviously though of as a calm voice, gently folding her hands in front of her. "Now that we're all comfortable---" at which Riku shot her a pointed glare, the woman smiling in return, "---perhaps you wouldn't mind answering a few questions for us?"

Riku's lips softened from it's frown and into a thin line, eyes becoming black. He said nothing.

"We can ask yes or no questions, if you'd like."

Still he said nothing.

"Your name?"

Nothing.

"Where you live?"

Silence.

A loud grumble snapped them from a staring contest.

"Cloud...?" the brunette woman whispered, hand held up in an alerted way.

"...Cloud?" Riku snorted, the corners of his eyes wrinkling.

'Cloud' glared at the silver-haired boy, blue eyes twitching a bit as his hands twitched at his sides. "Think my name is funny?"

"Your name is Cloud..." Riku chuckled, now doing his best not to break out in laughter.

Cloud gritted his teeth. "Yes," he hissed. "Now if you would be so kind as to tell us yours..."

Riku smiled. "No."

"Riku."

Said boy blinked, and he forced his lead muscles into turning his neck so he could properly view the man who had said is name so casually.

Leon stared back at him, a small smirk on his face. "His name's Riku," Leon said slowly. "I heard his friend call him it."

Riku twitched a bit, but he kept his face stoic. _Damnit, Sora..._

Aerith was still smiling. "Well, Riku," she said happily, "would you mind telling us your friend's name?"

"Yeah, I would," Riku ground out, glaring at the woman with heated aqua-marine eyes.

"Sora," Leon replied quietly.

"You pay too much attention for your own good, you know that?" Riku said evenly, keeping his voice casual, even though his inside was burning with anger.

Leon just smirked at him.

Cloud smiled a bit. "Well, now that we're introduced, you wouldn't mind a few more questions, then..?"

"Actually, I would."

"Too damn bad," Yuffie said cheerfully. She was sitting on a table across from Riku's bed, weight resting on her arms, palms flat on the wooden surface behind her. Her booted heels scuffed at the ground as she swung her feet back and forth, grinning. "In case you haven't noticed," she went on, "we have you paralyzed on a bed with no way out. You may as well cooperate."

Riku raised a fine silver eyebrow. "And how'd you figure that out?" he asked.

"Haven't you ever heard of Stockholm Syndrome?" the ninja asked, winking in a suggestive manner.

"Haven't you ever heard of a muzzle?"

"Ouch, that hurts."

"Enough!"

It was the first time Riku had heard the king speak, and he found himself doing just that; shutting up.

Mickey was frowning now, dark eyes fixed on Riku's. "Look, pal, all we need is a few answers. In case you haven't noticed, you aren't in the best of conditions..."

Riku smirked. "What did I do?"

"Hmmm, let's think about that for a moment," Cloud muttered bitterly, voice dripping with sarcasm as he uncrossed his arms from his chest and placed them on his hips. "Well, first of all you could explain why you've been stealing from here for the past _seven years_..."

"Do you have any _proof_ I've been stealing?" Riku questioned.

"As a matter of fact, we do," Cloud said with a smirk. "We have at least seven witnesses who've caught you in the act..."

"Well that's unusual," Riku murmured.

"...and around twenty for 'Sora'."

"That's normal," Riku said with a tiny smile.

"So either way, you're cornered," Cloud finished. He re-crossed his arms over his chest, looking a bit proud of this.

"I'm sure your thrilled," Riku said dryly. "Your mother must be so proud. Almost as proud as she is of her own naming skills. _Cloud_, honestly..."

"Shut the hell _up_, brat."

King Mickey sighed heavily. "C'mon, let's all just calm down for a sec. Cloud, chill!"

Cloud's fists had curled into balled fists at his sides, eyes narrowed in annoyance as he glared daggers at the smirking, bed-ridden teen. His strong self-control kept him from snapping back.

Riku felt a dull throb in the back of his mind, and he knew that the after-affects of the drug would kick back in full force any minute now. He just had to hold out for a bit longer...

"Let's cut to the chase, 'kay?" King Mickey suggested. Looking at Riku again, he asked, "Riku, will you tell us where Sora is?"

"No." The response was immediate, and even though the word was small, it was still a bit slurred. He felt suddenly drowsy, and his eyelids weighed a ton. The bed was so warm, so soft... it would be so nice to just let his eyelids shut after such a long day and finally get some rest.

Aerith sighed. "Do you even know where he is?" she asked gently.

"No idea..." Riku whispered. His eyelids were beginning to droop, his muscles loosening a bit. His mind was going fuzzy, and for that moment, the moment before the peaceful bliss of slumber over took him, he felt all right. He felt.. safe. Just wonderfully safe, a feeling he had longed for, for years and years.

"Aerith...?

So that's what her name was.

"Don't worry, it's just the drugs side-affect. He won't be up for quite a while."

They thought he was asleep now, but he still had a bit of life in him. Riku fully shut his eyes now. He felt a warm weight surround him and rest just below his chin; someone had lifted the fallen blanket and put it back over him. A cool, damp rag was pressed over his forehead, and it was then that Riku realized how incredibly hot he had felt. He must have caught a fever...

Sleep...

It sounded like the best idea in the world.

And without another thought, Riku let his thoughts drain away from him, feeling them drift from his mind as he fell into a state of unconsciousness.

_Tails_

Yuffie sighed as she watched Riku finally pass out, chest rising and falling in a soft, gentle rhythm. She passed Aerith a damp rag that had been placed on the bed side table then leaned back, waiting impatiently as Aerith placed it gently on the teen's head.

"So now what?" the ninja asked, cocking her head to the side. "WE didn't get anything out of him..."

"Nothing else to do," Leon muttered in an emotionless voice, still leaning back against the wall, his eyes staring at Riku's sleeping form.

Aerith sighed, gently playing with a strand of her hair before beginning to organize the numerous things on the metal tray by the hospital bed. "We'll have to wait until he wakes up," she told Yuffie.

"And we still have to find that other fella," King Mickey pointed out.

"With all due respect, your majesty," Aerith said sternly, "I'd rather you not send your guards after that boy until I can go with them."

King Mickey blinked. "Wha? Why, what's wrong?"

Aerith gestured towards Riku. "I'm afraid that if you let those guards go out unsupervised, they'll bring back that poor boy in the same condition as him." Aerith shook her head. "No, I'd rather go with to see if we can talk to him..."

"You mean black mail him," Yuffie said, rolling her eyes. "C'mon, Aerith, we know what you'll say. Some crap about us having his friend so he needs to come in too..."

"Not that it won't work," Cloud pointed out. "What other choice have we got?"

King Mickey sighed, scratching his head with a gloved hand. "I guess you're right, Aerith," he said. "But---" Mickey cast a glance at Riku, "---do you really think the guards did all of this? I mean, they can be violent, but not like this..."

Aerith sighed heavily. She reached a slender hand sown to tuck a stray tuft of silver hair behind Riku's ear. His eyebrows were knit together, a frown on his face. Like he was having a bad dream. But she had never seen anyone look so... _hopeless_.

"No..." Aerith whispered. "I don't think it was them who did this." She fingered a perfectly carved spiral slice on Riku's arm, one that was a bit scabbed over, a few spots producing a pinprick of fresh blood every now and then. "I think someone else did these things to him... Your guards just re-opened them."

"What're the chances of him telling us who did it?" Cloud asked gruffly, nodding towards the sleeping teen.

Aerith sighed. "Unfortunately, very slim chances. He wouldn't even tell us his name..."

"We'll get back to that later," King Mickey said sadly. "Right now, we have to figure out what to do with him, and Sora. No matter how badly hurt he is, rules are rules. If we don't think up some sort of sentence, the town'll be in an uproar..."

"You know the law," Leon muttered. "They need to be put in jail, no matter how young they are. The lowest sentence we can give them is four years, so..."

"We can't do that!" Aerith gasped, eyes widening. "It'll kill them! Cloud, you know!" She looked hastily around, locking eyes with the blonde who shifted uncomfortably. "Tell them!"

Cloud sighed heavily, unknowingly raising a hand to grab at his other elbow and stay there. "It would kill him..." he muttered. "When I picked him up, I didn't exactly expect him to be heavy but... it was abnormal, really. He must weigh half as much as Yuffie here."

"Are you calling me fat?" Yuffie huffed, crossing her arms and glaring at Cloud.

"No," Cloud said with deceptive calmness. "I'm saying that he's as light as a feather. If we throw him in jail with those scant rations, his stomach will eat itself until there's nothing left..."

"Then give him more food," Yuffie shrugged.

"It isn't that simple..." Aerith said, shaking her head. "You see..."

But they never saw anything because at that moment, another someone decided to make an appearance.

"Sorry to break up this happy little party," someone said gruffly from the doorway, "but there's someone here to see you--- holy shit, what the fuck happened to him?"

"Cid, please! Watch your language!" Aerith sighed, rubbing at her temples and shaking her head once.

"I can talk whatever way I fucking like," Cid snapped, scratching at his protruding stomach. He had a dingy cigarette hanging loosely from his lips, smoke billowing up from his parted, chapped lips. He had a tight black cloth tied firmly around his forehead to keep sweat from falling into his eyes, dirty blonde hair sticking up slightly. He had on baggy, light blue jeans on that slung over dirty work boots, black and brown stains blotching it everywhere. His white t-shirt was equally dirty, oil stains splattered over his chest and dirt clouding the back of the shirt.

"Somethin' the matter, Cid?" King Mickey asked, ignoring Cid's crude language; you grew used to it eventually.

Cid drew out his cigarette between his middle and index finger, twiddling with it idly as he said, "Yeah, we've got a visitor."

Riku stirred slightly in his sleep.

Repositioning the wet rag that had been slipping off of Riku's forehead, Aerith asked, "Who?"

Cid shrugged. "Dunno," he said. "He's won't tell us who he is, and he said he's looking for someone from this place?"

"What does he look like?" Aerith asked excitedly, praying that it was Sora; he must have come for his friend!

Another shrug. "How'm I supposed to know? He won't take his fucking hood off." He placed the cigarette back in his mouth and drew in another lungful of the drugged air. "Looks like an old guy, though. Hi back's all hunched over and he sounds like he's eighty years old."

Ignoring Cid's mutterings about 'fucking old people,' Aerith frowned softly. So it wasn't Sora... but who would be here at this time of night? It was almost 8 'o' clock...

"Well, who's he lookin' for?" King Mickey asked, tapping his foot on the floor. He always got testy when he was tired...

"Didn't say," Cid answered, tucking his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "He just wants ta' see someone in charge here, I guess..."

"I'll go!" Yuffie chirped cheerfully, launching herself off of the table and bouncing over to Cid. "It's boring here, anyway... where is he?"

"By the entrance," said Cid.

"Be careful, Yuffie," Aerith called after her, but Yuffie had already bounded out the door.

"Heehee, see ya!" And then she was gone.

_Heads_

The light that has previously been filtering through the stained glass had diminished, replaced by a darkness that had enveloped the town. The moon was hidden behind a thick, low hanging cloud. The smell of ozone was in the air, it's fresh scent meaning the approach of a thunderstorm.

The beautiful, tainted glass windows sent black ghouls scattering across the floor in an eerie waltz, shadows of the sun becoming the demons of the darkness. It was an eerie thing to witness, seeing how a beautiful a place could be in the day.

And how terrifying it was in the dark of night.

Yuffie took it in her stride, however, keeping her own personal light burning within her to keep her safe. The rainy scent blew in through the nooks and crannies of the castle, giving the halls a fresh, damp scent. Everyone was preparing for bed, the last of the indoor lamps being distinguished before the castle's matrons returned to their beds, getting well-rested for a lazy day tomorrow.

Cid had said that the stranger was in the Entrance Hall, but she didn't see him anywhere...

"Miss Yuffie!"

Yuffie blinked. "Hm?" She turned around to see two large guards making their way over to her, and sandwiched between them was a hunched over figure, a heavy, brown cloak drooped over him and a hood covering his face.

"You wanted to talk to someone?" Yuffie asked cheerfully, leaning down and resting her hands on her knees and offering a kind smile.

The old man shifted slightly, shoulder bumping into the elbow of one of the guards. Poor guy... he must feel a bit awkward with those two...

"You guys can leave now,." Yuffie said tot he guys, standing straight up again. "We'll be fine."

They glanced at each other before giving a curt nod each. And then, they swung around on the spot and stalked off.

"Sorry about them," Yuffie said cheerfully, folding her arms and standing to her full height, nodding towards the guards. "They can be pretty uptight sometimes.

The old man said nothing, just kept staring at the floor.

Yuffie's smile faltered a bit, her eyes twitching a bit. _What's wrong with this guy? _"So, what is it that you want, gramps?" she asked.

And then, finally, he spoke. "I was wondering... if you had an extra room for a weary traveler to stay for the night..." His voice was quiet and raspy, as if there was something caught in his throat.

The voice made Yuffie uncomfortable and shifted her weight from one foot to the other.

"Sure we do," She said, frowning a bit. "But... won't you tell me who you are...?"

"That is not important," the old man rasped. "I'm just tired... I'll have left by dawn..."

Yuffie, puzzled by the mans enigmatic nature, just shrugged. "Whatever, mister." Then an evil smirk spread over her lips. "You can stay in a room," she assured him. "But for a minor fee... just a deposit, really." What? She was running short on money...

The old man hesitated. Then, slowly, he dipped a hand that was hidden in his sleeve into his robe. A moment later, he pulled out a crumpled up dollar bill. Slowly, he held it up to her. "This is all I have..." he rasped.

Yuffie gladly took it, beaming. "No problem!" she said happily, pocketing the money. "C'mon, I'll show you to a guest room..."

She strode past the man briskly, head held high. She heard a shuffling feet and knew that the man was following her. Hm, maybe she could get him to take off his hood...?

"So, where're you from?" Yuffie asked, taking a chance at starting a conversation.

"The other side of town," was the only response she received.

"Where're you heading?"

"The other side of town."

"Ah."

They continued to walk in silence, Yuffie occasionally looking over her shoulder to see if the old man was keeping up. And every time she did, she would see him limping behind her as a speed quite fast for a man of his age.

His quiet demeanor puzzled the ninja, but she asked no more questions. Not like she was getting many responses from him, anyway. They were on the second floor, having walked up the spiral staircase a full minute ago. Yuffie was surprised the old man wasn't in shock about the size of the Castle; it looked much smaller from the outside.

They were finally passing the hallway that contained the room of Disney Castle's permanent residents, including Leon, Cloud, Donald, Goofy, the three nephews and Yuffie herself. Aerith's room was attached to the infirmary. She'd probably be staying up all night, though, keeping an eye on Riku.

Yuffie frowned at the thought. Riku had been pretty beaten up, and she had seen tons of injuries in her life. Most of those wounds looked carefully planned, not reckless and random. There seemed to be patterns carved into the ivory white skin, as if they had been planted purposefully.

Aerith was right. Someone else had cause those wounds, not the guards. And it was there job to figure out who.

Then she'd beat the shit out of THEM.

"Hiya Yuffie!"

Yuffie looked over her shoulder to see three small ducks trotting in a single-file line towards the. She saw the old man shift slightly.

"Hey guys," Yuffie sighed. She curled her hands along her hips and looked at them skeptically. "What're you three up to so late?"

"We heard that someone got beat up!" the one in red said.

Yuffie never had gotten their names right.

"We just wanted to go see if we could find him! Uncle Donald said he was the guy we met yesterday!"

The old man was now shifting constantly, swaying slightly on the spot and lowering his head, if possible, even lower down.

"Who's this guy?" the one in red asked, pointy a feather-finger (for lack of a better word) at the cloaked man, who nervously shuffled away from him.

Too bad the one in blue was standing right in front of him, and was peering up through the heard and into the strangers face.

"Hey!" he quacked. "I know who you are!" Turning, excited, to his two companions, he said, "It's Ethan!"

"No it isn't!" the other one reprimanded, leaning forward and putting his wings on his hips. "That's not his real name, remember?"

Yuffie's eyes were narrowed now. She slowly uncrossed her arms, scowling at the figure who definitely wasn't hunched over now, and when he began to step backwards, there wasn't a trace of a limp.

"You hold it right there," Yuffie hissed.

"What's going on?" the small duck in green asked, cocking his head to the side. "What did Sora do wrong?"

"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!"

Too late. In a blur of brown, Yuffie soon found herself covered in a thick brown cloak. She had caught a brief glimpse of the kid before he had ripped off his cloak and thrown it over her as a distraction. His brown spiky hair was damp and sweaty, clinging to his face, blood smeared here and there on his clothes. And he ha a determined, bitter expression on his face.

Yuffie stumbled backwards, arms flying out to wrench off the thick cloak that was heavier then it looked. She managed to yank it halfway off of her face, and she spotted the brunette flying away in the opposite direction, running away from the distressed ninja.

"HEY!" Yuffie choked out, finally managing to full pull the cloak off of her face. "STOP RIGHT THERE!"

But by the time she had finally untwisted herself, Sora was long gone and completely out of sight. She couldn't even hear his footsteps anymore.

"DAMNIT!" Yuffie snapped, hands curling into fists. The three nephews were looking up at her, frightened by her behavior as they slowly stepped away.

"Sheesh, what's wrong with her?

"Who knows with girls?"

"Yuffie?"

Yuffie peeked through her fingers, which she had gripping over her face a moment before, at the last voice. Goofy was looking worriedly at her; he was dressed in a long robe that was decorated with smiling moons and twinkling stars, the material soft and light blue. He had matching slippers and nightcap adorning his feet and head.

"What's goin' on? Who was that kid?" Goofy asked tiredly, rubbing at his eyes in a sleepy manner.

"Goofy!" the blue-clad duck exclaimed, pointing excitedly in the direction Sora had run off in. "Goofy, we saw a convict! It was so cool!"

"Whaa?" He frowned. "What'cha talkin' about?"

"Nothing!" Yuffie exclaimed in a high pitched voice, eyes widening. There was no way she could let this get out! The Great Ninja Yuffie letting a thief into the castle without even knowing it? No _way_!

"That's right!" the one in red nodded.

Yuffie sighed in relief.

"He was a thief, not a convict, Huey!"

Or not.

"Ha ha ha!" Yuffie laughed, trying to make it as real-sounding as possible. "Kids these days, eh, Goofy! Such an imagination!" She reached down and patted their heads.

They whacked her hands away. "We weren't imagining things, Goofy!" Duey yelped. "It was Sora! The one we saw yesterday, remember?"

Goofy's frown deepened as Yuffie groaned, shoulders slumping in defeat, and said, "You saw Sora? Which way'd he go?"

"Goofy, please!" Yuffie begged, hands gripping at short black hair. "Please don't tell anyone about this!"

"What?" Goofy blinked, fairly surprised. "But we need to go---"

"You and I can go find him ourselves!" Yuffie pleaded, her hands now folded tightly in front of her and under her chin in a silent beg. "I don't want anyone to know about this!"

"But we hafta to tell Leon and them!"

"You and I can go find him!" Yuffie repeated. "Please! I'll get in so much trouble if they knew I'm the one who let him in the castle and _then _let him get away!"

Goofy still looked doubtful, so Yuffie pulled her final bribe.

"If you don't tell anyone, then we can both make sure he doesn't get hurt! You know the others will use weapons, and if it's just the two of us, I'm sure we can talk him into coming with us!" Her eyes widened tearfully. "Please, Goofy? Please?"

Goofy sighed, scratching the back of his head. "Well, all right then," Goofy muttered. "But we'd better hurry if we don't anyone to know..."

Yuffie did a little mental situation! Yes! She knew that dog's hatred of all things sharp and pointy would come in hand one day!

"Thank you so much!" Yuffie exclaimed, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. "You wont be sorry, I promise!"

And as Goofy went into his room to get into fight clothes, as Yuffie shooed the three ducks into bed, assuring them that nothing was wrong...

...two floors up...

...four corridors down...

...under watchful, bright green eyes that shone with worry in the dark...

...a young teenager shifted in his sleep, head tossing to the side as silver hair spilled over his pale face, lips in a tight thin line and eyes scrunched together as his body unconsciously reacted to the pain all over his body.

And he slept on.

_**End Chapter**_

**That was lots of fun to write! 18 pages, guys! Don't expect long chapters like that all the time, though.**

**Anyway, I hope you liked it. Was the beginning and end to rushed? Tell me if it is! T.T Review? Please?**

**Chapter 7 out next week!**

**Oh, by the way, bad news. The computer is being taken away from me because I'm failing math... I don't know when the punishment will end. I will do everything within my power to sneak onto the computer and type. I promise there will be an update next weekend. I swear!**


	7. Call It In The Air

**Sorry it took so long for me to update. But there are several reasons for this: **

**First of all, I'm not getting many reviews. What, is it because now that you know I'll update once a week, I no longer need feed back? C'mon, people!**

**Second, I have no time. I'm dealing with a whole bunch of shit right now; heh, bit off more then I can chew. So I'll try to write more, but no promises,**

_**Call It in the Air**_

_**Part 3**_

His eyelids had decided not to listen to him. The noises he was hearing practically screamed "COME AND FIND ME!" The yelling, the footsteps, the... cursing...? The blood, the pain, the blinding light, the steely tones, the creaking of chains that were bound around his wrists...

And that was when he woke up.

The blinding pain he had once felt all over his body had ebbed away slightly, but it was enough to keep him from moving too much. His mind felt a bit clearer, although it still took a few moments to call back his memories of the past happenings.

He had had the weirdest dream. Or nightmare, really. He had dreamt him and Sora had fought the palace guards, and he had been dragged away to the Castle gravely injured.

He had to stop eating before sleeping. It gave him weird dreams. The thing was, he couldn't remember eating in... three days.

Damn it, he was _hungry_!

"Hey, you're awake..."

All right, that definitely wasn't Sora's voice!

Moaning a bit, Riku shifted slightly to try and get the waking-up kinks out of his muscles. His body felt stiff and painful, pangs of pain hooting up his body with the slightest movement.

Slowly, he opened one eye up.

Bright light was shining in his eyes from an open window facing his bed. Early morning sun rays twinkled on the dew on the tree leaves, sparkling like little diamonds. It was all taunting him with its perfection all of it. Just reminding him of everything and everywhere he didn't belong.

Like here.

But... where was 'here'?

"Hello? Kid, wake the Hell up..."

"Uuurgh..." Riku suddenly became religious. _Please, God, anywhere but here..._

"Hey, c'mon! _Get up_!"

All of a sudden, Riku felt something sharp tap his nose. Grunting, Riku shifted again and peeked an eye open to glower at the man who had just flicked his nose.

"..."

Cloud glowered down at him, soft lips in a straight line and blue eyes boring down into his. He was standing with one hand over his chest, the other still in front of Riku's face, ready to flick the teen again should he try to fall back asleep.

"...Aerith... he's awake."

Riku's eyes narrowed until they were only thin slits of green. With a growl, a smacked Cloud's gloved hand away. Cloud just raised an eyebrow as Riku pushed the sheets off of his chest.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Ignoring him, Riku struggled into a sitting position. His face betrayed his mask, showing the massive amounts of pain flowing through his body. Gritting his teeth, he swung his legs over the side of the bed.

Cloud just watched the teens stubborn attempts, and then sighed. Rolling his eyes, the blonde grabbed Riku's shoulder and pushed him back down onto the bed, albeit gently.

Cloud sighed again as the teen struggled beneath him, desperately trying to pry the older man's hands off of his shoulder. Tightening his grip, Cloud said, "Relax, kid. I'm not going to hurt you... Not like you could get any more hurt then you already are, but..."

At this moment, the tall brunette woman chose to make her entrance. She had a long black skirt on with thick white stitching and a white shirt on with sleeves then went down to the elbows. A white apron was looped over her neck and tied snugly around her waist, and a black tie keeping her hair back from her face.

She was carrying, the struggling teen noticed, a silver tray on which lay a plate of toast, a tall cup of milk, and a glass of orange juice. A bowl of what looked to be oatmeal was there, also, a silver spoon gleaming in the light as it stuck in the sticky substance.

Aerith sighed. "Riku, please. We're trying to help you..."

"I don't need your fucking _help_," Riku hissed, eyes blazing with the utmost hatred. He was breathing hard, and his body was going limp under Cloud's hands, the strength draining faster then it had hit him. He felt so tired, so weak...

Helpless.

Aerith wasn't deterred by his snappiness at all. She just smiled kindly down at him and came closer, sitting down on the edge of the bed. Cloud kept his hands on Riku's shoulders, however, lest he decide to make a break for freedom again. "Here," she said, setting the tray on her lap. "I brought you some breakfast."

Riku's left eye twitched a bit. "I'm not hungry," he sniffed, tilting his head away from the nurse. Cloud gave Riku's shoulders a threatening squeeze, but the teen just ignored him.

"Of course you're not," she said in a tone that said she believed anything but. She stirred the oatmeal idly with the spoon, raising a brown eyebrow at him. "Would you like to sit up and eat yourself, or do you need me to feed you?"

At this, Riku's head snapped back at her, and growled, "I said I'm not hungry! Now leave me the Hell alone..."

"Quiet," Cloud commanded softly. Riku glared up at the blonde, but said nothing. "It's obvious you haven't eaten anything in days," Cloud went on, face emotionless. "Why don't you just eat something? It's not like starving yourself will help..."

Riku snorted. "I can handle starvation," he said easily.

"No you can't," Aerith said flatly. She was now tearing the toast into bite sized pieces, easier to fit into Riku's mouth then him eating right off of the whole slice. "From the looks of things, you haven't had any food in quite some time." She smiled, not in a boastful way, but friendly. "Besides, it isn't like we've poisoned the food."

_I wouldn't put it past these people_, Riku thought grimly, but aloud, he only said, "I don't care. I'm not eating a thing."

"You'll die," Cloud pointed out dully, and Riku was too busy glaring at the wall to notice his hand slowly slipping towards the plate.

"So?" Riku said. "Not like you ca--mmpf!"

Rather abruptly, a piece of toast was shoved into his mouth. Choking a bit, Riku tried to spit it out. He would have succeeded if Cloud hadn't clamped his hand over Riku's mouth, keeping it shut, and using the other hand to pinch his nose. Riku's hands grappled at the older male's hands for release, but Cloud held fast.

After a few moments of silent struggling, Riku finally gave in. He gave the toast in his mouth one chew and swallowed it. He choked a bit, shaking his head as Cloud finally released him.

"See? That wasn't so bad," Aerith reassured him.

Riku rubbed at his mouth, his expression anything but soothed.

"Look, kid," Cloud said, "you can either feed yourself, or I'll feed you. Or I'll get Leon in here, if you want... and compared to him, I was being gentle."

Riku sighed, a silent war raging inside of his head. He wasn't even sure why he was debating over something so simple. It was stupid, really, but his stubborn side wouldn't let it go.

_If you don't eat, they'll make you anyway._

_I don't want them to think they can just make decisions for me!_

_It's just food!_

_It's the principle of the matter!_

_No, you're just being stupid! Take the damn food._

_No!_

_Yes!_

"Riku?"

Riku's thoughts were interrupted, rather rudely, he thought, by Aerith's gentle voice. She was still holding the bowl of oatmeal in her hands and was looking expectantly at him with bright green eyes. Disappointed in himself, Riku felt himself cave in.

"...whatever," he muttered unhappily. As Aerith beamed, Riku shifted and Cloud slowly lifted his hands from Riku's shoulders to allow the teen room to sit up comfortably. Aerith handed him the bowl and slowly, very slowly, he brought the spoon up to his lips and ate a bit of the oatmeal which, he found, was tinged with the sweet taste of brown sugar.

Cloud finally relaxed back into a chair, head tilted back and closing his eyelids softly as Aerith supervised Riku. He had been up guarding the castle entrance all night, just in case Sora tried a break in to save his silver-haired friend. But they hadn't found any sight of him. The guards had reported letting in a stranger at some time during the night, but Yuffie had taken care of him.

At least, Cloud _hoped _Yuffie had handled it. You never could tell with that girl.

Riku had now finished all but a few bites of oatmeal (there wasn't much in there, Aerith thinking too much would make Riku sick) and his caretaker was now pushing the plate of toast towards him, which he grudgingly accepted. He was careful not to eat it all, despite the fact that hunger was practically tearing him apart. He wouldn't give these people the satisfaction of knowing that Riku needed what only they had to offer. Which, at the moment, was food.

Quite good food, actually. But then again, after practically starving for seven years, even dirt started to taste good.

Riku had just finished his first piece of toast, and Aerith trying to bribe him into eating the second, when the door opened a tiny bit and a voice asked: "May we come in?"

_No, you can't_, Riku thought icily, abandoning the toast in favor of taking a sip of the orange juice being pressed into his hand by the brunette.

Aerith, however, said, "Come in!"

The door swung open, revealing four very... odd... _individuals_, I guess you could call them. There was one smirking duck, who looked extremely smug as he glared at Riku, hands on his hips, another duck who had a long pink gown on him and was eyeing Riku with a scrutinizing stare. There was a mouse with a crown perched atop her head, blue gown on, and looking at the teen with something akin to curiosity.

And then there was the object of Riku's hatred, King Mickey himself, who was smiling quite happily as he said, "G'mornin'!"

Riku inwardly groaned, sinking in his position a bit. They were going to give him his sentence now, while he was in bed. Well, wasn't this all fine and dandy?

"Is this him, then?" the female duck asked, eyeing Riku wearily.

Riku said nothing, calmly resting his head back and staring up at the ceiling as if he hadn't a care in the world.

"Yup," Mickey said cheerfully. "So, Riku, feelin' any better?"

"I was," Riku said idly, "until you came in."

Donald's smug gaze hardened into one of rage. "Hey! You watch your mouth!" the magician snapped. "Show some respect! He's your king!"

Riku expected King Mickey to agree with his cohort, to demand that Riku not speak so rudely to him. But instead, King Mickey only laughed. "Oh relax, Donald," he said. Donald just huffed, crossing his wings over his chest and tapping his foot impatiently.

Aerith was now cleaning up the breakfast things, returning the plate and bowl to the tray along with the half empty glass or orange juice. The milk remained on the bedside table, in hopes of Riku involuntarily picking it up to take a drink. In his weak state, the teenager needed all of the energy he could get, including calcium.

"What are you all here for?" Cloud asked, not bothering to look up. "What happened?"

"Nothing!" Donald cried, arms flying up to emphasize this statement. "And that's the problem!"

"Donald, calm down!" the other duck reprimanded sharply, hands on her hips as she glared at Donald. "Show some manners!"

"Yes, Daisy," Donald grumbled.

"We were hoping to have a ask him a few questions," the queen said politely to Cloud. Eyes turning back to Riku, who was ignoring all those around him, she said, "You're Riku, right?"

"No," Riku commented dryly, gaze never leaving the ceiling. "I'm the new court jester. Surprise."

"Keep it up, and you _will _be the new court jester," Donald warned, eyes narrowing, voice completely serious.

Riku paused, and then finally lowered his eyes to bore hard into Donald, treating the duck to his most frosty glare that caused Donald to gulp and take a hasty step backwards, but he looked no less stubborn. "I'll die first," Riku hissed.

"You seem to have a lot of suicidal tendencies," Cloud commented in a bored voice, leaning forward on his chair to rest his chin in a cupped palm. He didn't say so, but Riku knew he was talking about how Riku has almost choked earlier.

"That wasn't me!" Riku growled, eyes flashing in Cloud's direction. "You tried to kill me!"

"Wasn't my fault," Cloud pointed out. "You wouldn't eat. I just helped you along."

"You were suffocating me!"

Cloud just shrugged.

"If we're done, and ready to act our ages...!" Aerith said. As all eyes were drawn to her (except Riku, who had gone back to ignoring the world around him), she said, "Your Majesty, is there something you wanted to tell us? If not, I'd rather have a more... quiet environment."

"In other words, you all need to shut up," a stoic voice said from the hallway. "This is a hospital wing, not a party."

Even Riku looked at the newcomer, who now stood in the doorway, leaning against the wooden frame with his arms crossed over his chest and one leg tucked behind the other. His dark brown bangs swept over his stormy gray eyes as he eyed Riku suspiciously.

"Leon's right," King Mickey said. He had stopped smiling now. "Well, we came down here to ask Riku a few questions and..."

"And what exactly makes you think I'll answer them?" Riku asked blandly, raising an eyebrow is fake curiosity.

"Look, you can either answer our questions, or get thrown in the dungeon!" Donald threatened.

"Be my guest," Riku retorted. "As long as it's far away from you."

"Why you ungrateful little..."

"Enough!" the Mickey cried. "Please, just listen for one moment!" When there was silence once again, King Mickey continued. "Riku, I have... a deal for you."

At this, Riku smirked. "A deal?" he questioned. "Since when does the king make deals with thieves?"

"It doesn't matter who you are!" King Mickey huffed. "I'm tryin' to keep you outta jail, here, so listen up!"

Riku's curiosity was now nagging him to listen. A deal? Getting out of jail? Well, he'd certainly like to avoid being kept in a prison...

"I'm listening," Riku muttered.

Smiling in encouragement, King Mickey said, "Well, it's for both you and Sora, of course. And..."

"Hiya, Riku!"

Cloud slapped a palm to his forehead, Aerith sighed, Donald went into a fit, and Leon just... stood there... as three others skipped cheerfully in the room.

Riku's left eye twitched a bit.

"Just when we finally got him quiet enough to listen," Daisy sighed, shaking her head.

Heuy, Duey, and Louie all stood in the center of the room, grinning happily up at Riku.

"What're you three DOING here?" Donald shouted in aggravation, eyes bulging in their sockets as he stared down his three nephews.

"Heh, sorry, Uncle Donald!" Heuy said sheepishly.

"We just wanted to come in and tell Riku something!" Louie huffed.

"I don't care!" Donald snapped. "All three of you, get out of here, right now!"

"But it's important!" they all whined in union.

"No it's not!" Donald protested. "Nothing you have to say can be important to a thief, now go!"

"Oh, Donald, let them be," Donald said. To the three brothers, she said, "What is it you wanted to say?"

There was a pregnant pause in which everyone stared at Riku. The teen blinked, raising an eyebrow as the set of triplets looked up at him expectantly. "Um... yes?"

"How did he get in?" they chorused.

"How did who get in?" Riku grumbled, not in the mood for a guessing game.

"Sora!"

Riku felt a little piece of himself die inside as he echoed, "Sora?"

The one in yellow nodded happily. "Yeah!"

Riku sighed. " Sora isn't _in _the castle." With a pointed glare in Mickey's direction, he added, "And it's going to _stay _that way."

"We saw him last night!" the one in red protested, looking a bit proud. "He was dressed in this weird cloak."

"Yeah, he was with Yuffie!"

Everyone in the room who knew Yuffie had a look of dawning comprehension on their faces. Riku just looked as if he was about to have a heart attack.

"Yeah! And then he ran off!"

"Yuffie got Goofy to go with her and look for him!"

"Said something about wanting to do it alone..."

And just as Riku sat bolt upright, expression wild with a mixture of anger, fear, and apprehension, the loud thunder of footsteps came around the bend and into their ears.

A small figure stopped abruptly in the doorway, cerulean eyes wide. Spiky brown hair was even messier then usual, some strands sticking to his sweat-sticky face. His shirt clung to his skin, showing ribs, as his chest heaved while he tried to catch his breath.

Riku stared. No. Oh HELL no!

"Riku?" Sora cried.

And that's when he noticed everyone else standing i the room.

"Oh... heh heh... I guess this isn't a very good time to introduce myself, ne?"

And then they attacked.

_**End Chapter**_

**I'd write more, I really would, but I have another story to write. Until next time, people!**

**Oh, by the way. I've started to interview authors. Like DigitalDreamer, Aoi Nikko, Dark Ki, ElequentAroo64, Slashapalooza, Vash's Girl, Chaos Sora 99... lots of people. Here are the sites:**

**www. freewebs. com/ffinterviewer**

**www. freewebs. com/ffinterviewer2**

**www. freewebs. com/ffinterviewer3**

**Enjoy! And REVIEW or no new chapter next week! I decided to make a fourth part, so yeah... just review.**


	8. Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

**...I just watched Digital's conversation with PK about Mary Sue's... and it scared me. O.O Digi's very rough with people.**

**...here's the last part of TSC's four-part... thing. And why does everyone think this is going to end the story at the end of the long part of TSC? O.O; All I did was put them in separate parts 'cause it's so long.. And before the chapter, here's my favorite line from a song! EVER! ...yeah!**

_**I thought it would be nice... to lie down and close my eyes.**_

_**It never occurred to me that I am already asleep...**_

**It sorta fits in with the chapter... yeah, shut up.**

_**Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is**_

_**Part 4**_

_Heads_

_"Oh... heh heh... I guess this isn't a very good time to introduce myself, ne?"_

_And then they attacked._

Sora sat huddled behind the giant golden throne, body racking with silent sobs. Salty tears stained his cheeks, eyes shut tightly, scratches that marred his face stinging in the wake of the salty water.

_"SORA!" Riku cried, sitting bolt upright. His green eyes were wide in anger and shock as he watched Leon and Cloud instantly run forward to grab hold of the brunette who, in turn, was desperately trying to get past them and to Riku. He had to get to Riku. He had to save him..._

_"Sora, get out of here!" Riku snarled, watching as Sora swiftly dodged the bodies flying at him. Sora ran into the metal medicine tray next to the bad, sending its contents crashing to the floor. Sshards of glass skidded over the pale floor and glistened in ripples of light._

His face was buried in his knees, arms tightly wrapped around his calves as he hugged himself, trying to look as small as possible, hidden deep in the shadow of the king's majestic throne. He looked so small in the large shadow of something so beautiful, hiding the heart-wrenching sight.

He could hear footsteps stampeding outside of the marble doors. No one would think to look for him the most obvious place. The most hated place.

_A set look of determination in his eyes, Sora firmly grasped Leon's shoulders when the older of the two had summoned his Gunblade. Gray eyes widened a fraction in shock, but before he knew what was happening, Sora had pushed himself over flying over the head of the Gunner and to the safety of Riku's bed._

_"Riku," Sora breathed._

_**"...I'll always be here for you, Sora."**_

****Sora remember it clearly. It had been almost an hour ago that he had attempted to break in to rescue his friend. Almost an hour ago that he had failed. Again. Almost an hour ago that he, Sora, had left his best friend in the hands of the enemy. After all that Riku had done for Sora... how could the younger be so selfish as to leave his mentor behind?

"It's... it's not fair..." Sob.

_"You have to get out of here! NOW!"_

_"Not without you!"_

_Something flew at Sora's head, and Sora quickly flung himself over the bed, head buried in the older male's chest. The spilled antidotes had burned the curtains, and started a small fire. Mass chaos captured the room in it's enticing trap, and no one bothered to notice that the enemy was no longer even part of the fray. They were fighting each other, now. Literally._

"We... did nothing wrong." Hiccup. Sniff. "It's their fault... we did nothing wrong... it isn't fair..."

His voice was so weak, so frail, pathetic sounding to even its owners ears. He struggled to find his inner strength, to bring it back, in a time when it was most needed. But it hurt... it hurt too much. Riku didn't deserve this. And neither did Sora.

"IT ISN'T FAIR!"

_"You have to leave here! Now, Sora! That's an order!"_

_"Since when do I take orders from you?"_

_"Since I know what's best! Run, Sora."_

_The fire was being extinguished; the smoke that had once given Sora cover was diminishing._

_"Run down the hallways, to the left, and follow the red carpeting. You'll find a double set of white marble doors! Knock on them, and a smaller door will open!"_

_"Riku..."_

Shaking slightly, Sora stumbled to his feet. His lower lip trembled, and he bit down hard on it to stop this problem. He wiped furiously at his wet cheeks with the back of his hand, and sniffed.

He had to be strong. Because now... Riku couldn't be. And now, it was up to Sora.

_"Are you listening to me, Sora?"_

_"Yes..."_

_The smoke was slowly being blown away; someone had enough brains to open a window to let it all out. Sora could hear shouts, and Riku's voice grew even more frantic._

_"Go into that door, Sora, and hide! I'll come and get you! Just **stay there**! Promise me you'll stay there, Sora!"_

_"Riku, how do you know...?"_

_**"Promise me!"**_

_"I promise!"_

To Hell with Riku's orders. Sora was tired of letting people take control of his life. The King, the whole fucking court, even Riku. It was Sora's turn to play, now. And Sora played to win.

With a firm nod, Sora marched out from behind the large throne. The red plush carpet felt fake under his feet, and he almost felt as if he were marching towards his death.

_A scream, shouts, commands. Scurried footsteps, and the opening and slamming of a door. Glass shattered form the force of the door being slammed back into it's frame, and Sora fled the scene. He took a sharp left and practically flew across the red carpeting. He wasn't sure where this would lead him... but he trusted Riku._

_He always trusted Riku._

And now it was Riku's turn to trust Sora. And in his instincts.

And Sora pushed open the white marble doors, ready to face down whatever came his way.

_Tails_

"Urgh, fuck!"

"Cloud, watch your language!"

"Wah, my pants are on fire!"

"Huey, you're not WEARING any pants!"

"Oh, heh heh..."

"Wait... what are you three still doing in here? OUT!"

"Awww, c'mon, Uncle Donald!"

Riku waited patiently for the riot to quiet down, idly twiddling his thumbs over his stomach. He masked his confusion and fear with a look of calm inferiority, palms resting on his belly. His heart beat rapidly in his chest, but Riku forced his breathing to remain calm and he just stared up at the ceiling. He could feel several pairs of eyes watching him, waiting for something to happen. Hoping Riku'd start screaming, throwing things, crying... anything to show this was affecting him at all.

But Riku gave nothing but a tiny sigh as Aerith started checking him over. Again. The silver-haired boy wasn't even sure why. She just was. Probably to see if he had gotten any injuries from the things flying across the room.

Riku took note of the fact that Leon and Cloud had left the room, and positive they were hunting down Sora. But Riku had a plan. It was rash, there was only a sliver of hope that it would work, and it all depended on what he had learned about a woman he had only said three words to.

Things were not looking up at all.

"Hurry, follow him!"

"Yuffie! Where have you been?"

Riku watched a sheepish looking ninja nervously try to explain herself to the temperamental duck, who was tapping his foot impatiently on the ground and in his trademark stance. The dog, meanwhile, was trying to usher Yuffie and Donald out the door and after King Mickey, who had summoned up an odd looking weapon a mere moment ago and run out the door after Cloud and Leon.

Huey, Duey, and Louie were all being hollered at a moment later by their crazed uncle, and ran out the door in a frenzy of feathers and legs. Yuffie and Goofy followed, the ninja throwing Riku one last suspicious look (which he completely ignored) before rushing out of the room.

"What did you tell him?"

Blinking, Riku calmly lowered his gaze to see Aerith's angry green eyes staring hard at him. "What are you talking about?" he asked indifferently.

With a heavy sigh, she replied, "We're smarter then we look, Riku. And you can go on and think that this plan of yours will work, but you're wrong." Another sigh. "We're only trying to help, you know. You don't have to take it this far."

When she got no response, she just shook her head. "Well, it won't be long now, Riku. They're going to catch him eventually."

Riku showed her his most charming grin, eyes twinkling with a smug sheen before saying, "That's what you think."

Aerith blinked, raising a delicate eyebrow as Riku winced, trying in earnest to sit up. His arms shook terribly, breath coming out in uneven puffs. His teeth were gritted, back trembling as he struggled to sit upright.

"Riku, please, lay back down," she said gently. She tried to push him onto his back, but he resisted, back lurching even more and voice cracking as he said, "_No_."

"I didn't want to have to do this," Aerith warned him, "but I will."

_Perfect_. Riku continued to struggle.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Aerith rummage through a cardboard box on the windowsill, and then she stalked swiftly back to her patient. "Just hold still, this won't hurt a bit." And she raised the hypodermic needle to the flesh of his thin arm...

And her eyes bugged out of their sockets when, a quick as a flash, Riku's hand shot up and twisted the needle in her nimble fingers, plunging it deep into the skin below her wrist and pushing the top down, letting the medicine rush through her blood vessels.

Slowly, she sunk to her knees, eyes still wide with shock and disbelief. Riku had stopped shaking now, and was sitting perfectly straight as he watched her with guilty eyes, hands gently lowering her to the floor. He softly swung his legs over the bed and winced, for real this time, before letting her gently fall to the floor. The empty syringe rolled away and under the bed.

Her gaze never faltered, and she watched fearfully as Riku leaned over the spilled medicines from the previous scrimmage. He shuffled through them, sniffing one every now and then. Finally, he found a large, round blue bottle. Popping the cork open with his thumb, he raised it to his nose and sniffed. Mint. He smirked triumphantly.

And then, staring Aerith straight in the eye, Riku downed the whole bottle.

Aerith let out a small squeak and watched as a small drop of the clear liquid slid down his slim throat. She heard a loud intake of breath, and watched as the now-empty bottle slid from Riku's shaking fingers and shattered on the floor with a loud _crash_.

Riku grasped at his throat, shaking, eyes clenched tightly as a thick pressure incased his body. Maybe it was the wrong one? But then, a moment later, the pressure evaporated, along with the pain. Slowly, the numbness swept through his whole body, igniting a welcoming warmth in his bones. The excruciating pain in his muscles and wounds was gone, and his mind felt refreshingly clear.

Smiling sympathetically, Riku grabbed a pillow from his bed and knelt down beside his caretaker. He gently lifted her head and slid the cushiony pillow beneath.

"I'm sorry," Riku whispered. "But I don't need your help."

And then, he stood back up and spun on the spot, running towards the door and letting it swing slightly in his wake, ignoring the feeling of wet warmth spreading down his arms, back and legs.

And behind him, in the hospital wing, a tiny tear trickled down Aerith's cheek.

_Heads_

Sora was really starting to doubt his decision to leave the safe sanctuary of behind the throne. Being stuck behind a statue of something that didn't remotely resemble anything Sora's ever seen, surrounded by footsteps of people who were looking for _him_, having no weapon, or any means of protection didn't appeal to him very much.

_Gah, I should have listened to Riku!_

_No! I'll prove him wrong! I'll get myself out of this mess, and save Riku, too! All I have to do is find him, and then we're out of here._

Sora inwardly groaned. It wasn't as simple as it had seemed when he first thought up this 'heroic' plan. First, he had no idea where Riku was. Second, even if he did, he wouldn't be able to even find the place! The Castle was too big, and he had long since lost the red trail Riku had instructed him to follow. _And _from the last look of his best friend, Riku was gravely injured and Sora doubted he could heal his friend without help. A lot of help.

Sora gave a tiny sigh. Things were getting way too out of hand; he wished Riku was here. Riku could solve anything, and always got them out of these messes.

_Riku, Riku, Riku! Why is everything depending on Riku? Can't I do it myself? If he can do it, so can I!_

Easier said then done.

And Riku... Riku was keeping something from Sora. How did Riku, of all people, know his way around the castle? How could he possibly know where Sora could go to be safe? Did the teenager get a concussion or something? Sora wasn't sure and that, more then anything, settled his resolve to go onwards.

There was no use turning back now, right?

The sounds of thundering footsteps, slapping against the marble walls in a loud echo, receded gently. Sora waited, trying to calm his racing heart. Taking a deep breath to steady himself, he stood up on wobbly knees.

_Gah, why am I so nervous? It's Riku who's in the real trouble, not me! Get. Yourself. TOGETHER!_

Pouting, Sora forced his legs to bear his weight and turned around...

_Besides, I'm not in any _real _trouble. You're only in trouble if you get caught._

...and smacked right into a hard chest.

Someone roughly grabbed him by his shoulders, fingers digging into Sora's thin arms. Crying out in surprise, his wide blue eyes darted up to meet the gaze of the blonde he had seen yesterday in the alley.

"I'm in trouble," Sora yelped.

"I've got him!" the older man yelled, keeping his iron-vise grip steady on the struggling teen, who was thrashing about wildly in a feeble attempt to escape.

"LET GO!" Sora snapped, eyes flaring in rage. He twisted his torso left and right, but Cloud held fast, grip now tighter then ever. He couldn't do this alone... He couldn't...

...he couldn't...

_...Riku... help..._

_...Riku..._

"RIKU!"

With a carnal growl, something came hurtling out of nowhere and barreling into the blonde's chest, knocking the air out from his lungs and sending him plunging to the ground, relinquishing Sora from his hold.

Stumbling backwards, breathing heavily from his little outburst and his fruitless struggles, Sora didn't realize he was being dragged along for quite some time. But when he did...

"R-Riku?"

Sora stumbled along as quickly as he could beside his bets friend, who tightly held Sora's left arm and was forcing him to run the length of the vast hallway. Windows and shouts, people and paintings, doorways and staircases, all swept by them in a rushed blur of pastel colors. The only thing remaining solid in Sora's line of vision was Riku, who was running at mock-one speed with his charge by his side. Blood dripped red and pretty down his body in tiny torrents, sweat glistening across his marred skin. He was wearing the same clothes as the day before, but now instead of creams and brows, his attire was a deep red, save for a few clean patches by his ankles. And his skin, face, and hair looked twice as dirty.

"Sora, move!" Riku hissed, digging his short nails into Sora's flesh as a warning.

Napping back to realty rather quickly, Sora started to move his legs on his own and, once his speed matched Riku's, the latter let him go. "Hey... aren't I.. the one... supposed to... be saving... you?" Sora panted, arms pumping at his sides and breaths coming out in loud gasps, lungs burning for air.

"Not now, Sora," Riku gritted out, eyes darting back and forth as he scanned over their surroundings. "Shit!" Abruptly, Riku dug his heels into the ground, skidding a few inches, bloody arm flinging out and catching Sora in th chest to stop the brunette. Then Riku yanked them both to the right, flying down a thinner corridor faster then ever.

"What the Hell was that for?" Sora snapped, massaging his chest as he struggled to keep up with the older boy.

"That was a dead end," Riku hissed. "We have to go this way!"

"How do you know?" Sora exclaimed in a high-pitched voice. His legs burned, as did his lungs, from the hurried pace. His heart not only thudded so heavily from the sprinting, but also because he could hear a tidal wave of footsteps following them, and it didn't sound as if they were slowing down any time soon. "How do you know where we are? You've haven't ever been in this place!" He said it all in one breath, as he didn't have many to spare.

"Not now, Sora!" Riku snarled. The shouts were more clearly defined, and curious heads poked out of doorways to watch the pursuers hunt down the two teens. It was a frantic race against the clock, and Riku didn't see how they could possibly win with the watch tucked inside the pocket of a king.

"You'd better tell me after all of this," Sora warned. "I'm tired of you keeping secr---!"

A dead end. But their way wasn't blocked by a wall this time, but two towering men who were glaring coldly down at them.

"Glad you've decided to join us," Leon said sarcastically.

"Are you done running yet?" Cloud added, tapping his fingers along the hilt of his Buster Blade absent-mindedly.

Sora, at a complete loss of words, just looked over at his best friend. Riku had that puzzling smirk on his face again, and Sora knew that whenever the older of the two had it on, the results usually weren't pretty.

Icy eyes, steely color matching his cold demeanor, Leon asked, "What did you do to Aerith?"

"Aerith?" Sora blinked. "Who's...?"

"Quiet, Sora," Riku ordered in a voice that left no room for debate. When Sora clamped his mouth shut, ignoring the fact that guards were practically breathing down their necks as they came closer.

_They're not attacking because Riku's hurt, _Sora thought frantically. _That's the only reason they're holding back. They don't want to hurt Riku any more. But then.. why do _they _care?_

The blonde was talking again. "We don't need to fight you. Just come with us... we can help you."

Sora opened his mouth to refuse, but Riku cut him off. "Sora, listen to them." And Sora's jaw promptly dropped.

Leon raised an eyebrow sardonically, as did Cloud; both looked at Riku suspiciously.

"I can't fight any more, Sora," Riku said in an apologetic voice, locking eyes with Sora. "We'll have to go with them."

The footsteps got louder as Sora's pulse grew quicker. Did Riku know what he was saying? Was he **insane**?

"That's right," Cloud assured the distressed, cerulean-eyed boy. "Listen to him. And we can heal your injuries, too."

But Sora wasn't listening. Riku's eyes had just quickly darted down, and then back up, as to not arise more suspicion. Taking a subtle peak down, eyes hopefully hidden by his bangs, Sora saw Riku's hands twitching a bit. His finger, he noticed, was pointing at the ground by Riku's feet.

_What the Hell is he planning?_

Sora had recognized the hand signal immediately from a code Riku and he had developed many years ago. And when Riku pointed at his feet, he meant he wanted Sora to stick with him as close as possible.

So, trying to look as nervous and scared as possible, Sora slowly inched behind Riku. To a stranger's eye, it would look as if Sora was trying to hide, or looking for protection. But to Riku...

"What do you want us to do?" Riku asked, voice cracking. Riku's voice never cracked, and he never trembled as he was doing now, if not only slightly. It was all an act. All of it.

Leon looked as stony as ever and didn't say a word. It was Cloud who spoke, looking faintly relieved at the boy's amiability. "Come back with us to the hospital wing. We can get you patched up," he said, eyeing the bandages that were beginning to unravel from Riku's arms, fresh blood leaking through the cuts.

_Thirty seconds, the guards will be here. He has to act fast, or else..._

Riku's fingers were nervously twitching, but to the keener eye, and someone who was paying really close attention, they would see Riku pulling out a thin match from beneath the plastic band on his arm, which Aerith had placed their earlier to identify him in case he got loose. Fat lot of help it did her, too.

Slowly, Riku put his hands on his hips, match horizontally laying in his fingers. And with a quick snip, he scratched it across a material hidden under his shirt. The end of the match hissed to life.

Sora's eyes widened. _He's holding it too close to his shirt! He'll catch on fire...! _And sure enough, the ends of Riku's shirt began to smolder, and then, slowly, an orange flame crept up the back of his shirt, black smoke growing bolder with each centimeter the fire slithered.

"I guess we have no choice, huh?" Riku asked. But now, his calm mask had evaporated into one of smugness. His eyes were dancing with triumph, which Sora thought as stupid since Riku's shirt was now set aflame.

And now, Leon and Cloud's faces grew angry. And now, they saw the smoke. And now, they looked shocked.

And now was the time that Riku whipped his hand up and ripped off his shirt, that was now almost completely enveloped in flame, and threw it across the fire to a scorner in the room.

Everything was frozen for a brief second of time. The air grew cold, the footsteps halted, the sounds diminished. And then, in a sizzle and a bang, the shirt landed and, faster then the speed of light, the whole corridor was engulfed in a fiery explosion.

Fire sped along the creases in the walls, up over the ceiling, across the floors, roaring over the whole corridor and setting flame to the whole thing within seconds. Screaming was heard, as were shouts, but Riku and Sora didn't hear. As soon as he had flung his shirt off, Riku had seized Sora in a hurry and hurtled them both into a crook in the wall that had barely enough room to fit them both. Riku had pushed Sora in first, and then covered the smaller body with his own, the bandages on his back and arms still alit with flames. Soon, it would break through the numbness. He couldn't feel it, but Riku could smell the scent of his own skin burning.

They heard the roaring of flames for all of ten seconds, the air outside of their little nook nothing more then a blazing inferno, before a hiss of machinery was heard. And Riku's smirk grew when, from the ceiling, hundreds of little fire detectors buzzed to life and thick streams of water poured out through the sprinklers.

"Let's go!" Riku shouted. Once again, seizing Sora's shoulders, he pulled them both out and into the torrential downpour.

_**End Chapter**_

**...yes, there's a part 5! I just felt like leaving you guys there because it's an excellent place to end it all. And also, I didn't feel like adding on another 20 pages to this. Honestly, who wants to read 30 pages at once?**

**Well, expect something VERY long nest week, or two weeks from now. And thank you so much for all the reviews! I've never gotten so many for one chapter. Ever! (sniffles) THANK YOU! (hugs you all)**

**...review again:D**


	9. Bloody Knuckles

**This chapter is the result of insomnia, pressure, nervous-break downs, annoyance... and everything else I'm feeling right now. I've been trying to write for quite some time, and it's gotten to be the hardest thing. And people reminding me at every corner that I haven't updated in a while does NOT help at ALL! So if this chapter sucks, it isn't my fault. Well, actually, it kind of is. Everything is my fault.**

**A note on the chapter title. Bloody knuckles is a game, and fits well with the chapter. In the game, two people sit across from each other and take turns flicking a coin at the other's hand; said hand is curled into a fist and is standing on the table with the knuckles facing the shooter. The first person to make the other person's knuckles bleed is the winner.**

**Enjoy. And please note that this chapter will be re-written when I'm in a better mood. Or when I care.**

_Bloody Knuckles_

_Tails_

Steams twirled gently from the ground in the splattering drops of water that fell from the tall ceiling, a thick fog erupting in every direction and hiding their escape route. They couldn't see left or right, but Riku seemed to know where he was going, seeing as he had grabbed Sora and was leading them both into the heart of the steam. The hot water vapor stung and dug at their skin, and Sora could smell the strong scent of burning cinders, oil, and burnt flesh from Riku's back, which was blistering and bleeding rather quickly under blackened bandages.

Coughing and sputtering in the icy cold rain, Sora struggled to keep up with his friend, trying his best not to let his feet fall from beneath him on the slippery cobble-stone. The sounds of shouts echoed behind them, slurring together in an unreadable blur. All Sora cared about now was Riku and where the older teen was leading him. The brunet wasn't even sure if Riku knew where he was going, but seeing as the boy had never led him astray before...

Eventually, they crossed into another hallway. It seemed that the fire had spread here too. With a hiss and spur, life threaded itself through the mechanics of the fire alarm and bells sent shrill sons vibrating through the castle as more cold water continued to fall. It felt oddly numbing on Sora's hot, tanned skin as beads of sweat glistened and mingled with fresh water on his brow. It soaked through his clothes, making goose bumps rise along his skin.

Feeling the hackles at the end of his neck rise, Sora sped up out of pure nervousness. "Where are we going?" he panted as he ran. When Sora received no answer, he asked again, "Riku?"

Without saying a word, Riku hurtled himself at Sora, bowling the brunet over. They crashed through a door, a door Sora hadn't even noticed was there. They both landed head over heels on a hard cement floor of the dark stone room, which was small and cramped.

Groaning, Sora watched as Riku untangled himself and quickly squatted by the doorway, that was missing a threshold, and clamped it shut, the door gliding silently on its hinges and enclosing the two teens in a thick blanket of darkness. Not even a single stream of light flowed through the bottom of the door.

The two teens sat still, the only noise being their heavy gasps as they struggled to regain their breath. The pitter patter of water from the devices on the ceiling echoed through their tiny shelter, like tiny little drums with the drummers beating up an inconsistent tune that molded together into a sultry melody.

Voices were heard, voices inaudible through the stone door. Panicked voices, angry snarls, the trampling of feet that splashed through puddles that now stretched across the marble floors of Disney Castle in thick sheets.

When the yelling and talking had died away with the last of the footsteps, and only then, did Sora speak. "Riku... what's going on? How did you know this room was here?"

Riku didn't answer. He was too busy sifting through, from what the brunet could tell, through a tin box, from the sounds of things. Finally, a light exploded in a flurry of sparks that slimmed down to a tiny flame on the end of a waxy wick at the end of a dusty candle. Riku had lit it with one of the matches hidden under his shirt, matches he's taken from Aerith's infirmary. There was an empty tin box, opened, next to Riku who sat cross-legged on the floor. The light sparkled off of the blood that was slowly pooling around him and glistening all over his body.

Sora's previous thoughts were blown away at the sight of the blood. "Riku! You're bleeding!" After a moments pause. "Maybe we should..."

It was then that Riku chose to interrupt, voice strict. "Don't you even think it, Sora."

"But look how badly you're bleeding!" Sora exclaimed. "There's no way me and you can fix that! We need help..."

"Then well get it from some strangers who take pity on us," Riku said grimly. "Sora, what did I tell you? No one here can help us. No one!"

"Then what are we going to do?" Sora cried. His voice seemed to be magnified tenfold in the tiny stone room, rebounding off the walls. "How can you even move?" he asked in a quieter voice, voice soft with curiosity and sadness. "Don't they hurt?"

"No," Riku replied hurtfully. "I can't feel a thing."

"But how?" Sora asked, cocking his head and scooting closer to inspect a large scrape mark that ran from the older teen's shoulder to the pocket at the opposite side of his elbow.

"I'll explain it to you later," Riku promised, in a tone that convinced neither boy. "Right now, we have to get out of here and somewhere safe."

"But where _is _safe?" the younger whispered in an urgent hush. "They'll be looking for us all over!"

"We'll find a place," Riku said sternly. "Now stick close to me until I say so, you got that?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sora demanded. "Are you thinking we're splitting up again?"

Riku sighed heavily. Now was not the time for Sora to reveal his most stubborn side; the fire alarms would only go on for so long before they lost their watery veil of cover. If they were to escape, they had to do it in the water. Not only would it wash away Riku's bloody foot prints, but this way no one would be able to tell for sure who they were.

That is, until they got close range. But Riku wasn't planning on letting this happen.

However, unbeknownst to Riku, who was dragging Sora out from their safe spot, not all things would go as planned.

Especially, with all things considering, they'd practically locked the prison door and ate the key themselves.

_Heads_

Despite the freezing wetness that poured down upon their heads, over their bodies, sinking deep into their shoes, Riku didn't feel the least bit cold. In fact, he felt toasty warm, surrounded in his own security of wet heat.

And that was what concerned the silver-haired teen the most.

Riku knew the severity of his wounds. He also knew how badly they were bleeding. Breaking through the numbness, settling down in his skull was a throbbing dizziness that he could not shake off. And he had a sneaking suspicion that water wasn't the only thing creating suction between his feet and the floor.

Glancing down, Riku noticed with a lurch in his stomach that red blood ran in tiny streams down his legs and his bare feet were nothing but red blurs as he raced down the hallway alone, having sent off Sora in some other direction some ten minutes ago.

The brunet had been resilient at first, furious that Riku had even suggested they'd split up for a second time, but in the end, he had caved in to his best friends wishes and followed Riku's direction down a few of the hundreds of hallway in the castle. he path left, Riku knew, to a line of windows that lined the first floor. Sora could easily jump out of one of them and go to the abandoned fish market, where Riku had said they would meet.

Why had Riku not gone? The silver-haired teen could have easily followed his friend made a break for freedom, but there were several reasons as to why he had chosen to take the longer route. First of all, the Castle staff were undoubtedly suspicious of Riku's knowledge of Disney Castle'' interior by now, wondering how Riku could have known that there were wells of oil hidden underneath the stones that lined the corridors when they themselves had never known of the wells' existence.

And second, Riku's plan was to be spotted. And soon. That way, they'd follow him and leave Sora alone. For the moment. The plan was amateur and overly cliché, but it was all Riku could come up with. His blood-deprived body wouldn't let his mind clear itself enough to some up with a better solution.

After a few more minutes of walking through the halls, ears peeled for any noise under then the thunder of water raining down on him, when Riku realized what else was slowing him down. The after-affects of the medicine he had taken were starting to kick in, exhaustions ticking to his bone like a burr and making his brain funny, vision blurring into a pallet of multi-colored streaks, blues and grays intertwining in a massive shock that shook his whole body.

With a soft groan, Riku whipped his head back and forth to clear his head, instantly regretting doing so when he swayed lightly on the spot.

"Damn it, I've lost too much blood," Riku croaked, breathing heavily. The warmth was suffocatingly sweet, the sharp smell of copper and salt stinging the hairs in Riku's nose with a fiery burn that only served to send a tiny wave of sparks through his face, the medicine blocking out the pain.

Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Riku started to walk forward once more...

...and ran into a rock-hard chest, rebounding and stumbling backwards, gasping. It was...

"I've got him!" Cloud yelled, lunging forward to grab at Riku, who backed away frantically. Riku had only meant to let them see him, not get this close!

Struggling to maintain his footing, Riku spun around only to run into another man who, unfortunately, managed to grab the teens' upper arms in his strong hands before Riku could get away.

"Now how the Hell did you get out of there?" Leon hissed, steel gray ices glinting in the rain. His clothes were badly scorched, but still held together just fine. Black ash powdered his cheeks and hair and neck, the back of his hands and palms. And now it smeared along Riku's arms as the man curled his fingers into a vise-grip around the skinny appendage.

Riku twisted wildly, eyes flaring as he glared at the man who was at least a full head taller then him.

"Come on," a voice said behind him; Riku could feel the blond man's gaze burning into his bruised, blistered, and bleeding back. "Let's get him back to the infirmary..."

And it was then, for the second time that day, that Leon got barreled over by a teenager. In a blur of brown spikes and creams, Sora had vaulted himself over the banister overlooking the particularly-large hallway and dived in a vertical track towards the older brunet.

Riku stumbled a bit as he was released, shaking his head and clearing it a bit before lunging forward into the skirmish, which consisted of Cloud trying to subdue Sora, and Leon, slightly disoriented, trying to get to his feet as Sora landed weak punches wherever he could hit.

Ducking the frantic swiping motions all three were making, Riku managed to grab at Sora's skinny shoulders and yank him backwards from the fray, jogging backwards for a brief moment for a brief moment before spinning them both around and sprinting in the opposite direction, Leon and Cloud not too far behind.

The rain was thick and heavy, cold as it re-drenched their sodden clothes and leaving behind a residue of dust and, in Riku's case, blood.

_Sora must have made it outside before he heard the yelling,_ Riku noticed absent-mindedly, to absorbed in his escape attempt to really put too much consideration into the matter. _Damn it, Sora, why won't you listen to me?_

The world seemed to slow down for a bit, the whole planet spun on it's axis like a drunk. His footsteps swerved to far to the left, to the right, left, right, left... left... right...

"Riku, come on!" Sora encouraged, panting heavily. The water was thick on his face, gleaming on tan skin and dripping into concerned cerulean eyes. "We're almost there, Riku!"

Forcing himself to steady his paces, his lungs to resort back to their short gasps and gulps of much-needed oxygen, Riku's footsteps became straighter and more useful then his previous sprint. With an encouraging half-smile, Sora let go of his best friend's arm; Riku had never even noticed when Sora began to steady him.

Unfortunately, the two were unable to go unnoticed for long because before long, guards began to pour out of every crevice imaginable; other corridors, windows, door, dropping from the ceiling... it was all quite annoying. Their bright uniforms were dulled into pastel colors in the streaks of water from the extinguishers above their heads, but it did nothing to cool off the red-hot tempers most of them seemed to contain.

A great hissing noise erupted from somewhere behind them, lighting every drop of water in a unearthly light, each drop like tiny drops of fire ignited in thin hair as they splashed into molten pools of lava at Hell's grounds beneath their feet. A great ball of fiery magic flew over Riku's' shoulders, exploding not two feet away from him. He stopped abruptly, skidding in the slickened floors with Sora by his side.

Their feet seemed to run in place on their own accord for a brief moment or two before they finally managed to swerve away from the hissing ball of fire that dwindled and roared as the assault of water savaged its fiery light. Ducking to the left, ignoring the giant smoldering hole in the floor, the two teens ran through a pair of dimwitted guards who could only blink stupidly as two bodies pushed their reedy ones aside in favor of the deserted corridor that they blocked.

"Damn it, you let them get away!" Riku heard Leon snarl from somewhere behind them. But the voice was distorted, blurry, a mere echo that cast a slight shadow on the world of problems he had to deal with right now.

Like the rat who was standing right in front of them, face in a determined grimace and a steady stance, hands clutching at an oddly shaped weapon. It resembled a sword at the hilt, except it was made of a silvery material from which dangled a thin chain, a tiny pendant on the end that Riku couldn't make out in the rain. The rest of the weapon was made of gold, and instead of a pointy blade, a molding took it's place. Riku could made out three dulled points, but not much else.

But no amount of rain could allude the head, two large, disk-like ears sprouting into the ear. They were now tense and lay back, as ready for battle as King Mickey's heart.

"Sora, stay behind me," Riku commanded, moving forward a bit and leaning over in front of his friend. Sora remained silent, staring ahead at Riku with an unreadable expression on his boyish features, blue eyes locked straight ahead and body rigid with tension.

"I don't wanna hurt you fellas," King Mickey warned in his high-pitched voice that was slightly echoed in the rain. "If you'll just come with us, we promise we won't hurt'cha!"

"Don't believe him, Sora," Riku said calmly, although it was really a waste of breath; Sora didn't look convinced in the least. "Just stick with me."

"How about we try something different?" Sora suggested, his voice a silent whisper in the etchings of rain in the air.

"..."

"You stick with me."

"Sora... What the Hell are you... _SORA_!"

But it was far too late for Riku to grab a hold of Sora's arm as the brunet plowed past him, face aglow with anger as it burned with fury in the cold water. Riku could only watch in horror as the world seemed to slow down, Sora running in an agonizingly slow pace in his mind's eye. Water flew up in splattering sheets of wet in his wake as he ran forward, like a wave crashing and curling with an indestructible pace as he billowed toward his target; Mickey.

_Tails_

Sora didn't care if he was being reckless. All he knew was that Riku was weaponless and, even if he did have a weapon, he probably couldn't held one up in this state. So Sora, even though he, too, was weaponless, had done the first thing that popped into his mind. The brunet wasn't too good at thinking things through.

In those five seconds it took to travel from his best friend's side to the treacherous king's, Sora tried his best to formulate a plan. Any plan.

Sora gritted his fists together, ready to throw anything at the mouse he could; punches, kicks, _mauling_. But when he had his fist clenched, he realized that it would not close completely. Why?

Because there was already something in his hand.

Sora didn't hesitate. He didn't bother looking down to see what was causing the radiating smoothness in his hand that vibrated with a power he had never before felt. He did notice, however, that the mouse hesitated, shock etched across his face with his jaw hanging open, eyes wide. And then, raising his arms high above his head, both hands clutching at the warmth now, Sora swung down with all of his might.

King Mickey just managed to swing up his own weapon as Sora brought down his, a clash of silver and gold briefly illuminating them in a glowing orb in the thick water. And it was then that, for the first time, Sora caught a glimpse of his weapon.

In his hands was a gleaming sword, in the same shape as the king's with several key differences. The hilt was gold, not pale silver, and the blade itself a perfect contrast with it's silver shine. The thing dangling from the hilt, Sora noticed, was a thin chain with a mouse head dangling from the tiny chain; King Mickey's insignia. The head of the blade was shaped oddly like a crown, and resembling something of a key.

"The Hell...?" Sora murmured in awe, staring wide-eyed at the weapon. But no matter how odd it looked, the teenaged boy could feel waves of power seeping through the leather-bound handle that sprouted between a golden square of a hilt, seeping into his numbing palm and fingers with a comforting warmth. Every ounce of drowsiness had left him, replaced by a blazing courage that he'd never even known he possessed.

But the power, he realized, filled him with a fair amount of fear, as well. The tingling the weapon sent up his spinal cord was electrical, possessive, almost, as it would around his whole body. Sora felt as f the weapon had somehow lodged itself into his heart and refused to let go, rising a lump in his throat the size of a large apple.

Sora decided to end this battle as quickly as possible.

But Mickey had gotten over his initial shock and now had his own blade raised, shoulders hunched and arms tucked into his chest, point of the weapon pointing to Sora's chest with the hilt at a perfect parallel with the ground.

"I dunno how you got that, Sora..." King Mickey said, a cryptic nature underlying his words, "but you don't know what it can do. Just... put it down..."

Sora could hear the clash of metal and heavy footsteps behind him, shouts mingling in with them, as the guards closed in. Riku was standing behind Sora now, eyeing the weapon skeptically. His body, the brunet could see, was tense and rigid, a red blur in the downpour. His silver hair was matted and caked with the teen's own blood. and Riku's breaths were getting shallow.

"And we need to get him," King Mickey nodded in Riku's direction, "to Aerith! Please, for your own sakes! I'm only tryin' to help!"

"Well guess what?" Sora hissed.

They were getting closer.

"WE DON'T NEED YOUR FUCKING HELP!" Sora screamed at the top of his lungs, voice a loud echo in the thunderous avalanche of wet and footsteps. With a growl, Sora brought his arms back in an swift motion, fluid as water rippling over stone, and brought it down in almighty swoop of metal and muscle.

Mickey was momentarily stunned at the unexpected motion and he had no time to block the oncoming attack. Sora's blade hit him hard on the side, just below the ribcage, send King Mickey's feet flying off of the ground as he sailed across the floor before ramming into the fancy floor, water lubricating the white marble so that the mouse slid before he finally slammed into the wall. His head slumped tot he side, and the rest of him followed as he slipped into unconsciousness.

Sora looked up hesitantly, breath heavy and strained, to his blood-stained friend.

"Let's go."

_Heads_

There was no mistaking it. Riku could no longer deny it; the feeling crept up his spine, sending familiar shocks of electricity to his brain, foretelling what excruciating pain he would be feeling any moment now.

The potion was wearing off.

Not only was the pain slowly starting to reawaken, but a dizzy haze seemed to be permanently clouding his motions and mind. The room seemed to be spinning slightly, wobbling under Riku's feet as he struggled to remain running. But eventually, the world tilted too far and his ankle twisted beneath his other foot, crippling Riku's leg and sending him sailing down to the floor. The air was knocked from his lungs; Riku coughed, desperate to get back it back, and he felt something hot and sticky fill his mouth with a coppery taste before spraying out in spurts as he hacked.

Sora skidded to a halt as, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Riku trip and land harshly on the over-flown floor. Riku was starting to cough, blood seeping from the corners of his mouth and spurting out at the intervals in which he took a turn to sharply cough in the frigid air.

"RIKU!" Sora cried, rushing over to his friend's side. He feel down to his knees, the jolt hitting his kneecaps hard and causing his calves to tingle and grow hot at the blow. Ignoring the slight pain, Sora bent over, wrapping an arm securely around Riku's trembling shoulders. "C'mon, Riku! Just a little longer..."

But it didn't seem Riku could hear him. His breath was growing frighteningly faint, eyes clenched together tightly in a thin wrinkle with burrows so furrowed they seemed to form one straight, thin eclipse of a silver line. Blood soaked Sora's hands, running down his arms and blossoming into thick red vines on his skin, soaking through the shirt and dying it crimson.

"Riku!" Sora cried when his friend didn't answer. Tightening his grips on the trembling shoulders, Sora shook him lightly at first, and then more roughly when Riku didn't respond to this either. "Riku, PLEASE! Wake up! WAKE UP!"

The sprinklers had stopped now, and the air wasn't suffocating wet anymore. Water pooled around the two boys, tinted bright red with Riku's blood. It mingled with the water and silently drained down Riku's face in cryptic lines of a forgotten language, quietly writing away the teen's dwindling life.

_What can I do?_

A quiet sob

_Riku... no... you can't leave me here..._

"Please... please wake up..." Sora shook with the unbearable weight of grief that pressed down heavily on his heart, emotions boiling over to the brim and leaking out through his eyelids.

_Don't... we haven't even cleared our names yet... we aren't free yet..._

"Don't leave me here!" Sora snapped out in fury, nails biting into pale flesh. "You made a promise Riku!"

_DON'T YOU DARE DIE ON ME!_

"Please... we can help you..."

It took a moment for the sobbing boy to realize that that didn't come from inside of his head. His tear-filled eyes slowly rose and met bright green ones, which were staring down at him in urgency and pity. Her brown hair was matted down from the rain and she had a large green bruise on her arm. Beside her stood several others Sora recognized, including the black-haired girl, Cloud, Leon, and the king. All of their eyes were transfixed on the brunet and the now-unconscious boy laying in Sora's arms.

Sora tightened his grip.

"He'll die if you don't get him help!" the brunette woman exclaimed hurriedly, taking a step forward. When she saw the small boy scoot back a bit further, taking RIku with him, her eyes took on a pleading look. "Sora... you have to let us have him, just for a while! Please... he'll trust you, won't he? You can stay with him..."

_I can... stay with him..._

_"Sora, what did I tell you? No one here can help us. No one!"_

_What choice do I have, Riku? Please! What choice... choice..._

"Sora..." a raspy voice gasped from below him, voice lowered to a faintly soft tone that only Sora could hear.

"Riku... please... tell me... what should I do?" Sora choked, unaware that all eyes were now locked upon him.

"I trust you," Riku whispered, eyes still close as his head rested on Sora's lap. Sora could barely feel the pumping of a heart under his sweaty palm that resided on Sora's chest, clutching at the fabric as if letting go meant death.

But then again... if he didn't let go, it would mean death anyway.

But Riku trusted him... he'd said it himself. Riku had never before said he trusted anyone... and now...

"Please..." Sora whispered, voice a mere shadow of it's former gaily nature.

_I hope... I hope I don't let you down..._

"...help him..."

Sora felt something shift on his lap, and he blinked through the swamp of blurriness tears had painted over his eyes to see the tall blond silently scooping Riku into his arms. Sora sat still unmoving and silent as a grave, as Cloud straightened up, Riku's head resting on the tall man's shoulder. Sea-green eyes bore down into Sora's, staring, unblinking and never leaving Sora's until they were out of eye range.

"Let's get him to the infirmary," the brunette urged, and she trotted off to the left, Cloud following closely behind. Sora's gaze followed the two until they rounded a corner and his silver-haired friend could no longer be seen.

And there, stranded in a puddle of sticky blood and fresh water, Sora remained. Steeped within broken shards of tarnished memories, a deep rift in his heart quickly filling with anguish as he cried, the dam finally breaking.

And Sora sat there, waiting, trembling in the warm air, weeping silently as his last hope was carried away.

_End_

**You should all fear the random lines of pure angst that were scattered everywhere, like McDonalds' in Center City.**

**Wanna know why this took so long? Well I can't tell you. Gripe all you want, say I've lost interest, doesn't matter to me. Oh, and if I get one more review asking me to bug Digital about BR, or heavily hinting that I should bug her, heads WILL roll.**

**And Please refrain from bugging me to update as well. Just say what you liked most in your review, and tell me how you liked it. Those are the only reviews that keep me going.**

**Hope the chapter was worth your time. So until next update!**


	10. Excess Change

**Thank you so much for all of the reviews! Here's a long chapter, I hope it's worth the wait. **

_Excess Change_

_Tails_

"We can't just leave him there, can we?"

"..."

"Squall?"

"..."

"Oh c'mon, Squall! He must be cold! Let's see if we can take him to a room or something..."

"...whatever."

The water, which had dispersed long since now, left the air in a chilly and clammy state, causing goose bumps to rise and stay risen on the flesh of passerby. Large pools of water were spread everyway, lubricating the floor and making it dangerous to walk on. The windows dripped and were streaked with droplets of water, gray light shining through dully from outside. Gray clouds rumbled high above the grounds, dark and alluring, forecasting stormy weather for later on.

The guards had left by orders of the king, stomping off, moody, dripping wet, and not at all satisfied. After all they'd been through, a nurse was the one who'd finally contained the two thieves? It was a waste of time, and they would have stayed to argue if King Mickey had not shooed them off with orders to conduct a crew to sweep the halls and search for any more wells of oil.

The water splashed up from beneath her sneakers, seeping through the soles and brim to run through to her socks and splash thin ankles. The teenaged girl stopped just two feet shy of the thin brunet, who was currently sunken in a thick pool of water that was tinted red and pretty, what little light the alluded sun could provide rebounding from it's surface to send mesmerizing rivulets of red shadow over his face. His head was tilted downwards, once-spiked hair now laden down with the heavy weight of water and hanging in thin strands on his neck, flopping over his forehead and covering his eyes, reaching just half way down his nose and brushing cheeks. Water stained his perfectly tanned skin, but from the way his shoulders shook and breath hitched every now and then, Yuffie was quite sure it wasn't all from the sprinklers.

"Hey," she murmured gently, crouching down so that she sat on her heels, arms crossed over her thighs as she offered a warm smile. Getting no response, she tilted her head to the side casually and ducked a bit to try and spot Sora's face that was currently nestled into the crook of his arms. "You're Sora, right? C'mon, don't you wanna get somewhere dry?"

A sniff was all she got. His head stayed lowered and, if possible, sunk even further. The sloppy mop that was his hair brushed up against his arm, curling a bit before wilting lifelessly back. If not for the tears, and the quiet sound of sobs, it would have been adorable.

"You'll catch a cold," Yuffie informed him with mock seriousness. Then, in a ditch effort to bring a smile to the sullen boys face, even a simple quirk of the lips, she said, "You're a real cutie, ya know that?"

Sora's hand twitched a bit and, from the current view, Yuffie could almost see the downwards curve of his lip and, after a moment, his lower lip protruded a tiny bit.

He was _pouting_.

Yuffie snickered. "See, there ya go!" The facial explanation erased itself as soon as the comment left Yuffie's lips. "Aw, don't be like that!"

Leon cleared his throat quietly, barely making a sound but enough to grab Yuffie's attention. Her hazel eyes left Sora for a moment to glance up, an eyebrow quirking in curiosity.

Leon's were drawn down into a sullen scowl, arms crossed over his chest as he leaned back against the wall, one ankle tucked behind the other in a comfortable position. His steely gray eyes were narrowed under a slick of brown eyelashes as he regarded the slumped over teen and Yuffie's desperate attempts to bring him back with realty.

And then once, and only once, Leon shrugged his head to his right, nodding down the hall in the direction Cloud had taken Riku.

Blinking, Yuffie looked in the preferred direction, not understanding at all when she found it quite as abandoned and sopping wet as five seconds ago. "What? You see a ghost, Squall?"

Sighing impatiently, Leon unfolded his arms and used his tucked leg to push himself off of the wall, casually strolling over to the two others. Yuffie blinked up at him but, after a quick glance from the man, she chose to slowly scoot back and stand, backing away, looking skeptical as Leon regarded their small charge.

"Look at me," Leon commanded coolly. "I'm only saying this once, and I'm not telling it to the back of your head."

There was a pregnant pause as Leon glared coldly at the back of the boys head, burning a hole into his skull. Sora's head raised a bit, cloth sliding together with a wet sound as it separated and slid along his damp flesh. His face was no longer hidden, but he still stared down, blue eyes hidden beneath russet bangs that appeared almost black from the heavy weight of water it held.

Sighing heavily, Leon crouched down without a sound, startling the younger boy when he felt fingers wrap firmly around his chin, tugging his face up. His shocked cerulean eyes met those of cold steel, and it felt like barbed wire was digging into his pupils from the intensity of that glare.

Leon, scowl still in place, took a moment to take in the boys appearance. He looked more like a drowned puppy that had lost its way home by now. Every inch of his body was soaked in water, and his nose was beginning to run a bit from his crying. His lower regions were a bright red from where Riku has lain on him, the blood soaking Sora and giving him an eerie warmth that somewhat sickened the silent Gunblade wielder. His bright blue eyes shone with fear and unshed liquid, pearls of the purest crystal beading at the corners of his eyes and threatening to fall at emotions' mercy.

Hiding any sign of discomfort or curiosity behind a stony mask, Leon said evenly, "Your friend is currently dying in a hospital bed with only the slightest change of staying alive. And do you know why?" He paused, but not long enough for an answer. "Just so he could find and protect you. Personally, I don't give a damn about what either of you do, but do you really think Riku wants you to sit out here and wait for him to die? Or are you going to do something about it?"

The gentle racking and rocking of Sora's back slowly ceased, as did the shuddering his shoulders has been condemned to. His face, Leon noticed, was now tilted to him in the slightest of angles, blue eyes regarding him skeptically from drenched brown blocks that still covered his face. The blue seemed to be aflame with anger, resentment, instead of icy in a sad state as they were mere moments ago. And that gaze lacked all pouting, a serious face that surprised the older brunet who would never admit to it even in the face of death.

Sora just stared at him, lips drawn tight, holding back words that were obviously coiling themselves around his tongue and twisting in his throat, struggling to get out, only held back by the cold stare the brunet received back.

"You don't trust me," Leon pointed out calmly, stating the complete obvious. He was crouched down lower now, steel eyes taking in the pitiful sight before him that seemed to be seeping rage that floated around him with the blood and water. Sighing, Leon raised a hand, fingers brushing his numbing lips, before sinking into his shaggy hair and fisting there, looking remotely agitated by the situation at hand. Grasping at his sense of calm, he went on, "And I'm not asking you to."

Sora blinked. Just once. Water dripped into the white of his eyes, outlining his lashes in white shadow before ghosting over his cheeks to wash away the remains of his tears.

"I'm just asking you to get the fuck off of the floor so we can get you dry and cleaned up for when you see him again." Had Sora blinked, he would have missed the brief slip of a mask, emotions shining in a surreal flash before calm indifference took over once more. "Just... follow me. I'll get you cleaned up. And then you can go and see him, all right?"

Sora put Leon under a scrutinizing half-glare, half of him begging for his body to comply and follow the cold stranger to find some warmth, and to rid himself of slowly-caking blood. The other half of him was reminding him of what Riku had said no one could help him. And here was the walking resemblance of what Riku went on about; a cold-hearted person, an enemy, offering glazed-over words of comfort that could mean nothing but future anguish, a chance that would slip through Sora's very fingers the moment he tried to grasp at it.

But in those cold eyes, behind the steel bars, a certain warmth pertained his features. It swept away the kindling fear that burned out the bottom of his heart, affectively dousing it and letting it drain out with the blood and water below him.

Slowly, as if afraid thunder would strike him down where he lay if he moved too fast, Sora nodded.

Grunting his consent, Leon gently grabbed a hold of Sora's upper arm in his glozed hands and helped the boy to his feet. The crimson liquid poured down Sora's body, sinking back to the ground and draining intot he puddle that left his scandals sopping wet and sticky, his feet cold and numb from the cold touch.

Feeling Leon squeeze his fingers slightly, Sora realized he had averted his gaze downwards once again. Forcing his eyes up, he was shocked to see an actual facial expression on the stoic man.

A smirk, no less.

"Good," Leon said, gently guiding him forward in the opposite direction of where Riku and Cloud had gone, never letting go of the skinny arm as he finished, "because you never really had a choice in the matter."

Behind them, Yuffie snickered a bit.

_Heads_

_So... **cold**..._

_"He's awake..."_

_No... No I'm not. I'm still asleep... still dreaming..._

_"Get the Hell up!"_

_No... you can't make me..._

_A yank. A tug. Fingers curling along his scalp and harshly gathering locks of silver hair in a thick palm before forming a fist and yanking up, causing a pale neck to snap and send shots of pain running from his shoulders down before sprouting out behind his ears._

_"C'mon, pretty boy, get up!"_

_He couldn't move... Arms frozen by icy clasps behind his back, shoulders straining in their sockets from the position he was forced into. His legs curled beneath him, knees poking out from beneath thin pants that did nothing to keep the heat from leaving his skin. His bare arms and chest were prickled with goose bumps that had risen a long time ago. _

_"Seems like he needs a bit of a wake up call, hm?"_

_Keep my eyes closed... keep them closed... they can't hurt me if I don't see them..._

_"You have a job to do, brat!"_

_**It's only a dream, Riku...**_

_I want to believe that..._

_**Wake up... Come on, now...**_

_I need to believe that._

_**Riku, please, wake up!**_

_HOT_

_Pain sliced down in a cross over his chest, burning him, the scent of steaming flesh stinging and making him wince, groaning in pain and struggling to get away from the hot wired rod being pressed insistently on his bare flesh._

_**WAKE UP!**_

****Sweat poured, leaking into his eyes as they snapped wide open. His back arched off of the bed, arms refusing to follow and making his body creak in protest. His torso contorted itself away from an invisible foe, silver hair splaying over porcelain skin and matting there, swamped with sweat and sticking with dried blood that cracked and let loose fresh streams of crimson in their wake as new cuts re-opened, old ones simply burning. Breaths let loose from his chapped lips in a hurried whisper, tumbling his murmurs and mutters that had coerced themselves from hi nightmares, still protesting against the pain, both the nightmare's and the present's.

A gentle hand was gently squeezing his shoulder, a cool touch against his flushed skin that burned with heat from an unknown source. His arms strained as he tried to reach up a hand to smack away the hand, but he found it quite impossible. His chest heaved against a mysterious barrier that was strapped against his chest, pressing him firmly back against a soft mattress. Arms strained against the same trap, muscles tensing in an unfit state.

The cool hand squeezed again, thumb brushing against the skin at his shoulder in a soothing manner. Calming words soothed over the ragged edges of his nightmare that still probed at him in the back of his mind, smoothing them out and allowing Riku to return from his unconscious high and slowly regain his senses.

Bright light poked at his eyes, the voice of protest grumbling in his chest as he blinked blearing against the offensive shine. Brown hair pooled into the sight, wavering it and making it slight more bearable for Riku as a person gazed anxiously down at him, worry smacking him in the face from eyes the color of his own. Lips were drawn into a line, half-way between a reprimanding scowl and anxiety.

_Aerith..._

_...oh not this again..._

The light clarified itself into a singular orb of white that hung high above his head, implanted firmly in the ceiling. The room was cool, but comfortable so, and it felt good against his heated flesh. Crisp linen folded itself gently around Riku's body, clasping him in a soft cocoon on the bed he lay on. It brushed against his bare legs, and warm cloth hung from his hips down to the backs of his knees. Gentle tickles of white cloth told Riku he was bare-chested without even looking down. And surely, when his gaze averted downwards, he discovered that his marred chest lie unclothed and free, ribs cracking up through the skin and creating small hills along his flesh before swooping dangerously slow at the stomach, making Riku's chest look like a skeleton with flesh clinging to every bone. Sleek muscled whipped through and around bone, and they were currently tense as could be, despite the comfortable atmosphere.

The blood, Riku noticed, was gone except for the crimson streaks that were caked over his numerous wounds. Pale skin was fresh and clean between gashes which, although gruesome looking, seemed to be quite clean. A strong scent of aloe and mint hung in the air, and his back felt cool; Aerith must have put a burn salve on his back from the shirt he'd lit aflame himself. How long ago, he could not remember.

The hand had left his shoulder, he noticed, and Aerith's back was turned to him now. Riku said nothing as she easily scooped a wooden bowl in her hands, a wooden panel stick up from it. It steamed lightly and smelled strongly of aloe and thyme, a smell Riku remembered from herb shops that dotted Main Street. When she had returned to his side and sat down on a small stool that was mere inches from the bed, her legs hooked under the seat and around metal poles, he glanced towards the bowel. The liquid in it was transparent, the lifelines of wood clear through it, but it was still an acid green. The wooden handle's other end was a black brush, small and now wider then two inches.

Aerith's fingers curled daintily around the handle, twirling the brush around in the liquid, causing the steam to become a tad bit thicker, before lifting it out. Making sure to dab it along the wide of the bowel first, she brought it to the now-bleeding cuts on Riku's forehead and neck, gentle brushing it along.

Riku had the ability to withstand pain, known to not make a noise as countless pebbles were picked from bleeding wounds where he fell and hit a rocky curb, but he had to bite his lip harshly at the harsh burning sensation the salve gave him. Liquid fire poured itself into the cuts, burning his skin and blood until the blood sizzled and waked over the wounds, retracting from his skin and gathering to a melding block of dried blood over his injuries. The potion settled under dried blood, sizzling under his skin and making Riku hiss in pain, head twisting to the side until his cheek pressed hard into the pillow.

Aerith's hand cupped his cheek and pulled him back, however, continuing to apply the solution to cuts. "This will help, Riku," she told him pointedly, not letting her gaze meet his as she concentrated on holding Riku still long enough to finish the healing process. "It cleans out and clogs up your cuts. You'd better get used to it, too; this will be going over every mark on your body, including that burn on your back."

Riku sighed, but said nothing, wordlessly accepting the treatment. He'd realized that his arms, chest, and legs were strapped down; from the feel of it, and the way it pushed into his skin when he tried to move, the teen guessed it was leather. He grudgingly admitted to himself that he could use the treatment he was receiving. Of course, he'd never say it out loud. And to reinforce this, he made sure to keep his mouth firmly shut lest a simple 'thank you' spilled out by accident.

That is, until a simple word filtered through the pain and sparked his heart with new awareness.

_SORA!_

The words flew out of Riku's mouth without second thought, eyes bugging wide open. "WHERE'S SORA?" he yelled, startling Aerith. In her shock, the bowl slipped from her fingers deftly and, with one fatal swoop, upending its contents, which splashed over Riku's bare chest in a torrential splash that flecked bits of green everywhere as it pooled into his stomach and ran over his chest.

Green eyes immediately flashed with pain, agony shooting through him faster then a speeding bullet. His back arched as a muffled cry gave way through gritted teeth. His fists curled and nails dug into his palms, drawing forth sweet crescents of red blood. His chest hissed as fire bubbled and sank through his rib cage, blood frothing over before rising into tiny tendrils and scabbing over and over again. Magma coiled around his bones and blended in with the blood in his veins, hot wire rods replacing blood vessels and turning the tissue in his body into painful ash.

Aerith, not stopping to breath a single word of fear or comfort, quickly swept from the bed and ran to the sink by the window. The sounds of Riku's cries ran in the room, and she was sure that people would soon come running; his screams were just that; screams. They weren't quiet. Fumbling at the faucet for a moment, a weight seemed to gently ease off of her chest as a rush of clear water came shooting down and splattering into the porcelain bowel she held underneath it. When filled sufficiently, and when Riku's screams grew to a terrifyingly high pitch, the brunette spun on her heel and rushed back, hand flying out to grab a small towel on the way, not bothering to turn off the water.

By the time she'd returned mere seconds later, Cloud, Yuffie, and King Mickey had come barging into the room, eyes wide and demanding explanations that Aerith had no time to give.

Swooping over the trembling teen, Aerith quickly plunged the hand towel into the cold water and immediately brought it to Riku's burning chest, scraping at it as lightly as possible to reduce the friction as she scraped what little green potion she could. The damage had been done, though, as most of it had already seeped into the skin and was currently frothing up blood to scab over the wounds, putting a halt to the blood flow and burning away any trace of bacteria under the skin. This was a good thing, but too much of it caused unbearable amounts of pain. She'd been planning on doing it wound by wound...

Surprisingly, a minute or so after Aerith began washing off the potion, Riku'd stopped screaming and his chest stopped heaving to heavily. His breath was still ragged and gasping, but it was no longer painful-sounding. nor did it sound like it'd be the silver-haired teen's last breath as it had a minute before. His eyes were shut, lightly, not clenched, and his eyelashes glimmered slightly with an unshed tear or two. But no streaks of liquid could be found on his face, all withheld behind his aquamarine eyes.

A minute or so later, Aerith let the wash cloth drop back into the empty bowl, sighing before setting it down on the bedside table. She intently studied Riku's face, looking at it for any signs of utmost discomfort that demanded she refill the bowl and try to ease off more of the pain. But Riku looked fine now. His breathing was a tad bit shallow, quiet even though the room echoed with hollow silence. Mickey, Cloud, and Yuffie, still standing by the doorway, shot Aerith curious looks, which she ignored, focusing her attention on the teen before her.

Reaching out a gentle hand, she threaded her fingers through his soft, silvery hair, tucking it neatly behind his ear before repeating the motion in a motherly gesture. His green eyes creaked open slowly, slits of green eyeing her as she continued to stroke his hair soothingly, but he didn't pull his head back. He was too tired, and the kind gesture was one too well-needed to push away even if he was able to.

Instead, he said, "You never answered my question." His words were slightly slurred and in a moment, they could both tell, sleep would find him again. His narrowed eyes were softening into one of curiosity, patiently waiting for the woman to answer him. Nothing was left in him to be rude or demanding, stubborn or indifferent.

"He's all right," Aerith assured him with a gentle smile, all anger for his running away buried under her concern. Although she was surprised that Riku could even remember his own question, let alone comprehend her answer, when sleep was so obviously dragging his mind back down into a soft haze, it didn't stop the fond smile from growing when Riku gave her a small one in return.

And then, with a soft sigh, Riku fully relaxed into the mattress, letting the rustle of white linen and the fingers gently running through his hair lull him into a dreamless sleep.

_Tails_

Dark red carpet felt plushy under his feet, causing him to sink slightly as he walked. Dark cream walls enclosed him on all side, sealed off by a dark mahogany door that was shut firmly behind him, the sound deafening in the quiet suite.

Calm steel eyes regarded him from beneath chestnut bangs. "Are you going to stand there dripping all over my carpet or are you going to come in?" Leon asked coolly, raising an eyebrow at the hesitant teen.

Shaking his head, averting his gaze from the expensive-looking leather couches that settled themselves in a semi-circle in the room he stood in. Leon sighed, turning and walking down the short hallway that branched off from the door. Eyes following him briefly, eyeing the man with suspicious eyes, Sora followed albeit reluctantly. He was, however, looking forward to getting truly clean for the first time in he didn't even remember how long.

The hall was clear of any clutter, walls plain and without borders or photographs hanging in wooden frames. Leon walked briskly passed two wooden doors, one on either side, until he reached one at the end of the hall. The younger of the two watched as the bronze knob was turned swiftly before the door was yanked open, not a sound made as it swung listlessly on its hinges.

_This seems like the perfect place for a man like him,_ Sora thought bitterly. _Nice and quiet... and barren, too..._

Sora was so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he was surprised to find Leon speaking to him.

Grinning sheepishly, Sora said, "I'm sorry... I wasn't listening..." He just gave a nervous chuckle and rubbed at the back of his head as Leon fixed him with a cold glare.

"I said," he hissed, "that clothes will be on the bed in the room attached to the bathroom. Wrinkling his nose, smirking a bit, he continued, "Make sure you wash off good in that shower. You stink."

Sora attempted to return the glare, but it failed on account of two reasons. One was that with Leon's smirk growing, he knew that it was turning into more of a pout then anything. And he was also too relieved at the prospect of taking a nice, long, hot shower to be complaining about any insults to his personal hygiene.

The sound of a switched being flicked resounded, Sora's ears perking as the bathroom was flooded with light. Stepping aside, Leon nodded his head towards it. "Leave your stuff in the corner," he said. "And stay in that room until I come to get you."

Sora nodded and waited for Leon to say more. He didn't, however. Stepping to the side, he brushed past Sora without a word.

Blinking, Sora uttered a hurried, "Wait!" before Leon could walk around the corner and out of sight.

With a sigh of what sounded like aggravation, Leon turned back to face Sora. "What? Need me to give you a tour of the bathroom?"

Ignoring the sarcasm, Sora voiced what was nagging him at the back of his mind. "Aren't you, ya know, afraid I'll steal from your or something?"

Leon raised an eyebrow. "And what could you possibly steal from me in the bathroom? A bottle of shampoo?"

Biting his lip, Sora looked down, hands fisting until curled fingers left nails digging into the flesh of his palm.

Sighing at Sora's dejected look, Leon said, "First of all, I have nothing of value to steal in here that I don't carry on me. Second, you wouldn't dare steal from me. Because if you did, I'd kill you." Sora gulped; he somehow knew that. "And lastly, I don't think you're the kind of kid who's steal things on a whim. The only way I think you'd steal from me is if I provoked you. Which I choose not to do."

"How do you know that?" Sora challenged. He was now just going on for the sake of argument, trying desperately not to be flipped open and read like a book. And the man before him was sprouting ff details about his personality when they hadn't known each other for more than an hour.

"Because I do," Leon said indifferently with a shrug of his shoulder. When Sora didn't budge or make another comment, the brunet asked, "Are you going to take a shower or am I going to have to push you in there and wash you myself?"

With a yelp, blue eyes startled and wide, Sora stumbled backwards just as Leon made a move to come after him, slamming the door shut. A tiny smirk pulled at the corners of Leon's mouth as he heard the sliding of a bolt, meaning Sora has locked the door.

"There's another door to the bathroom, you idiot," Leon muttered, more to himself then to Sora. A quiet chuckle was startled out of him when he heard another bolt, this one more muffled, meaning that Sora had also locked the door to the bedroom.

Shaking his head, a tiny smile on his face, Leon walked away from the bathroom and into his own room to find suitable clothes for the small teen to wear.

And then... he would burn those rags that Sora called clothes while he was asleep.

_Heads_

A dark, surprisingly soft, black towel was wound tightly around his bony hips, tied into a knot on the side and held in place by a tanned hand. His damp skin prickled in the cool air, sweeping over his now-soothed muscles. His sopping wet hair dripped water over his bare chest and shoulders, onto the red plush carpet beneath his feet. He could still feel the heat of the steaming jets of hot water that had been pouring at him mere minutes ago, washing away thick cakes of dust that had clouded themselves upon every inch of his skin, layers of sweat, and blood stains; all drained down the skin, his worried following briefly after it.

Feeling represented and pleasantly woozy, Sora padded over to the bed. It, like the walls and carpet, was a deep red with a creamy border, the pillows a cream with dark red lacing the outsides.

_He must really like those colors, _Sora thought absent-mindedly. He blinked blearily at a small, neat square of white and gray on the corner of the bedspread. Upon closer inspection, hew found it to be a neatly folded white t-shirt atop an equally orderly bag of gray sweatpants. He ran the finger pads of his free hand over the cloth; it was sinfully soft and felt, if possible, slightly warm.

Pulling the towel from his waist, Sora towel dried his hair with one hand white reaching for the clothes with the other. Pulling the t-shirt up, Sora discovered a pair of blue plaid boxers underneath. It hadn't a single crease in them and were slightly stiff; a new pair.

Grinning at the simple king act made by the cold man who was sitting somewhere in this small home, probably waiting for him to come out and announce his finished getting changed. Rubbing the towel over his damp skin quickly until he was dry (for the most part), the brunet slipped into the boxers, pulling them up. They hung off of one bony hip, slipping down a bit to show a side of his pelvis. Wincing at how large they were, Sora tried on the pants next. They, too, were far too big on him. Sora pulled at the drawstrings tightly when they were all the way up to prevent them from falling. When he felt assured they were in the proper position, Sora pulled the t-shirt over his unruly hair and slipped in onto his torso. The sleeves reach down below his elbow and hung down past his thighs, hanging off of a skin shoulder, clavicle showing under his damp hair.

But despite how large they were on him, they were the most comfortable thing Sora'd ever put on.

Smiling a bit, feeling eerily content despite the position at hand, Sora sat down on the bed, feet curling beneath him and hands smoothing over the fabric of the comforter. It felt unbearably soft and cushiony, the brunet sinking into it slightly with a soft sigh of appreciation.

He wasn't sure if it was tiredness or comfort that finally dragged Sora down into the bed. All he knew was that he felt warm and comfortable, something he'd never truly gotten the chance to appreciate for the past seven years of his life. Seven long, long years, years he didn't want to repeat or reminisce tonight. Tonight, all he wanted... was some sleep.

Fifteen minutes later, tired of waiting, the door clicked open to reveal a slightly irritated Leon. His eyes fell upon the damp towel at the foot of his bed, and then the figure _on _his bed.

Sora was lying down on the red blankets, head resting on the feather down pillows, damp hair sticking up a little in a cute way, a few strands tucked into his slightly-ajar mouth. His even breathing filled the room, the steady rise and fall of his chest rhythmic and hypnotic to the mind's eye.

Leon had never seen someone look so... relieved.

"That brat's on my bed," Leon grumbled, sighing as he rubbed at his temples with thumb and forefinger. He was being stubborn, and he knew it. And yet... he just couldn't bring himself to wake the slumbering boy. Not after all he'd been through tonight.

With another sigh, this time mentally scoffing himself for getting so emotional over a little thief, Leon walked over and gently tugged at the comforter and sheets until they lie open in a wide flap. And then, very gently, he slid his arms under Sora's warm, bony body.

Frowning at how light Sora was, Leon easily scooted him over until he lay at the edge of the bed before sliding him under the sheets and blankets, laying them over Sora. The boy didn't miss a beat of his rhythmic beating, not stirring a bit.

Still frowning over how light it had been to move Sora over---he couldn't weigh more then sixty pounds, at his guess---Leon turned and swept out of the room silently, pausing at the doorway to throw Sora one last glance before exiting the room completely, pulling the door shut behind him with a gentle click.

And in his sleep, Sora turned over, brows furrowing and lips puckering, teeth worrying the bottom one for a moment before letting go. His face relaxed once more, but not before he muttered a single word.

"_Riku..."_

And he slept on.

_End Chapter_

**I know the ending sucked horrible, but I was tired and I'd like some free time. Here's hoping it wasn't too terrible.**

**Please review. Let me know what you guys think!**


	11. Quarters

**Read the author's note at the bottom of this chapter; I explain shit down there.**

_Quarters_

_Tails_

Something was poking into his nose and a rude and abrupt manner, prodding away the peaceful daze he'd managed to settle into after a restless night of lying on the couch, his bed being taken over by his 'guest'. A hue of blacks and creams swam behind his eyelids, and a throbbing beat behind his temple in the insistent beat of whatever was prodding his nose.

He groaned and groggily swatted it away with his hand. When it stopped, he relaxed against the hard cushions of the cushions on his leather sofa, heated cheek cooled as it moved to a new place on the arm. His eyelids relaxed, the tenseness rolling off of his shoulders to allow back sleep.

A few moments later, the poking was back again.

This time, Leon growled, something that even surprised him.

The poking stopped…

He relaxed.

….And then it started again.

Without even batting an eye, Leon's hand snapped up and snatched at whatever was poking him. His fingers enclosed around a thin, warm wrist, and a surprised gasp rang through the air. Ignoring that, Leon yanked down, and a soft _fhlump_ alerted him that his victim was now successfully sprawled on the ground. With a soft sigh of ease, keeping the bound wrist tightly clenched in his hand and pinned against the carpet by the couch. It strained against his grasp, but nothing fazed the man who was gently drifting back to slumber.

A long pause. A buzz of silence hung in the air, stiff and suffocating, blocking out the cooing of morning doves outside his window. And then….

"LET ME GO!"

It was becoming quite apparent to the older brunet that his short night of sleep was at a close, and that he should give up now. But he was stubborn, especially in the mornings, and especially when he hadn't had his coffee yet.

"Oh come on!" the voice below him whined. "Get up! You promised!" A hand was now batting at Leon's wrist, struggling to relinquish the grasp keeping him to the floor. "You told me I could go and see him when I was clean! And I'm CLEAN! So let's GO!"

Leon sighed heavily, Sora's voice cutting into his wistful fantasies of more sleep like a hot knife through butter.

"I'm up, I'm up, you damn brat," Leon grumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose and tilting his head back slightly. A rancid taste in his mouth made him rinse, and that more then anything made him sit up, releasing the brunet's hands as he did so.

His sleep-mussed hair was hanging over his eyes, but through messy bangs he could see Sora perched on the floor, legs cross over one another and hands clutching at his knees, wide blue eyes staring up at the man expectantly.

And then...

"You look funny."

Leon chose not to respond to that.

Mumbling obscenities under his breath, he stretched his back, rolling his shoulders to relieve some of the tensions there and lifting a hand to over his mouth as he yawned widely.

Sora was still staring up at him.

Leon noticed absent-mindedly that he really shouldn't let Sora run around the castle to see his friends in a pair of sweatpants, a t-shirt that looked more like a tent on him then anything else, and no socks or shoes on his chapped feet. His tan skin showed through the large neck hole, one thin shoulder poking out like a pole from the shirt, making Leon feel a tinge of regret in his heart. And they were hitting this kid? He was surprised the boy hadn't shattered like a vase.

And then the boy started to speak again. "Sooo... what's your name?"

"Classified," Leon said in a serious tone.

"No it's not."

"How do you know?"

"Because I do, that's why."

Leon sighed. The sooner he got off the couch, the sooner he could get dressed and brush this little rat out of his home. And he could get his bed back, too. And find a nice fire to burn those rags Sora called clothes as soon as possible.

Blunt fingernails scratching his scalp, Leon used his other hand to wipe away the sleep from his eyes and he straightened himself up, yawning as he stood once again. His serious demeanor always slipped a bit when he got up, and he was determined to show as little of his other side as possible.

And so, leaving the teen sitting smack dab in the middle of his living room, still cross-legged and clutching at his knees nervously, Leon left to go and make his morning coffee.

_Heads_

The burning sensation was back again, sinking deep within the cuts and scraped on his arm. Riku'd been aware of the pain for quite some time now, but it only seemed to be growing in intensity as he fought to keep his face expressionless. He was pretty sure Aerith knew he wasn't sleeping anymore, but he didn't care.

Perhaps he could go back to sleep after this was over... his mind was dragging him down heavily, and weights seemed to have settled themselves over his chest and head. His heart seemed to be throbbing harshly in his ribcage, and every rush of blood soaring through his veins burned. Riku could feel his own pulse, beating deep from the depths of his heart, his heartbeat increasing a bit as he finally let out a hiss of pain.

"I knew you weren't asleep," he could hear his caretaker saying matter-of-factly, but her merely tilted his head away from the sound of her voice, refusing to justify the statement with any sort of retribution. He just wanted to sleep.

And to knock that damned bowl of healing solution from her pretty little hands, but he was finding it quite impossible. The leather straps still bound him tightly to the bed, and he discovered that there were more around his ankles when he went to stretch an hour ago.

The silver-haired teen supposed it was for the best, but he'd never admit it. The bounds holding him down kept him from stretching out any of his wounds, and for that he was grateful. But that didn't make up for the fact that he was now being held prisoner by his most hated enemies, and had entrusted his fate to a boy who hadn't been able to tie his shoes properly until the age of ten.

Riku let out a long sigh.

"Oh, I'm not done yet," Aerith informed him, obviously mistaking his sigh for one of relief. "I'm going to get the rest of this arm, and then Cloud'll be here and you can have some breakfast."

"And Cloud needs to be here because...?" Riku prompted irritably, not at all in the mood for any guessing games.

"Incase you try to pull any more of those stunts like you did yesterday," she replied crisply, pressing a little bit harder on an long scratch that was welded deeply on his arm that ran from the elbow down to the back of his hand and making him wince. "And you can sleep for a little while after that..."

"And Sora?"

Aerith talked over his comment, not catching it, as she said, "I'll wake you up some time in the afternoon and we'll work on the other arm... I'm not sure when King Mickey wants to talk to you, so..."

"Aerith?"

"...you'll just have to wait to find that out. But you'll be staying here..."

"Aerith!"

"...until I'm satisfied that you're healed sufficiently. And you and your friend will be put onto strict diets. I'll figure them out as soon as I give you and him a phsycia---"

"AERITH!"

The brunette woman blinked at him patiently, now working on the split on his pinky. "Yes, Riku?"

"What about Sora?"

"What about him?" she inquired, dapping at the burn marks on his palm down.

Riku bit his lower lip to keep from yelping as the cold substance stung his wound deeply.

"He's with Leon, if that's what you mean," she clarified, and, to her patient's great relief, finally dropping the bloody sponge back into the basin of poisonous green liquid. "He rested there for the night, and he should be here sometime today..."

Riku just nodded at her words, letting it soak in. She hadn't spoken a word about what the outcome of this whole mess would be... and he almost afraid to ask her.

_Wait... since when am I afraid to ask a simple question? _Riku thought numbly, surprised by his own incompetence. Maybe Aerith would have some insight into their situation... the teen knew he couldn't be getting out of here anytime soon, so he might as well know his sentence.

That is, until he was healed. And then Sora and he were high-tailing it out of the castle as soon as the chance came to light.

And then, in a gentle whisper that could barely be heard even in the dead-silent room (save for the soft crinkling of linen sheets as he shifted nervously), Riku asked, "What do you think... is going to happen to us?"

Aerith just started at him, green eyes piercing into his forehead since his gaze refused to meet hers. "Well..." she replied delicately, "it depends on why you've been stealing for the past seven years in the first place. If you have a liable excuse, you could probably get an easy punishment."

"How easy?"

"A few years easy."

"Damn it."

Aerith just laughed as Riku scowled at nothing in particular. "You brood almost as much as Squall," Aerith pointed out bluntly.

Riku blinked. "Squall?" he repeated, raising a silver eyebrow and shifting to look over at her. "Who's Squall?"

"Oh," she said in brief surprise. "I haven't told you. Squall is Leon's real name, before he changed it."

"Why'd he change it?" Riku inquired.

"It's a long story," Aerith responded, smiling gently. "Why don't you get some sleep?"

"I'm not tired," Riku insisted stubbornly, even though the weariness in his eyes and his slouched form on the bed spoke of anything but. "I have time, come on."

Smiling, Aerith asked, "Oh? And what if I said that I wouldn't tell you if you don't tell me _your _story, hm?"

Riku scowled. "Nothing much to hear."

This time, Aerith frowned sharply, lips thinning a bit. "Oh yes there is," she pointed out. "I saw your injuries, Riku. Both you and I know that we didn't cause all of them Some look days, weeks old. And a multitude of scars... too many for a teenage boy, even for someone like you. Unless something happened to you..."

Riku winced, taking the chance, to advert his gaze to somewhere over Aerith's shoulder until he could perfect his mask of confusion once again. He was tired... he didn't need this right now.

But Aerith seemed to be playing off of this slightly as she pressed on. "We can help you, Riku," she insisted. "just tell us who did this to you... and maybe you can get out of this whole mess and---"

"That's bull shit," Riku snapped, eyes flying back to meet her widened ones. "There's no way anyone is going to let me and Sora off the hook, not after seven years! It doesn't matter what I tell you; it won't matter!" And then, his face twisted into a mocking smirk. He was angry and tired and in pain... his chained temper was slowly unhinging itself from the back of his mind, and he didn't care.

"And you know what?" he said slowly, voice carrying a slight hiss that made Aerith narrow her eyes in a reprimanding way. "It doesn't matter if you sentence us to life in jail. Because we both know that Sora and I can escape here. None of you can do anything about it, either. So no, I won't tell you anything at all. Because it doesn't matter. By the end of a few weeks, you won't ever see my face again."

"I know that."

This calmed Riku down. Her monotonous voice brought him down from his stupor of inexplicable rage, as he was on the point of starting to thrash on the bed until she _had _to take off the straps. She knew? She couldn't... This woman was trying to get him with reverse psychology, and it almost made him laugh out loud.

But Aerith's next words quickly extinguished the urge.

"I also know what you're trying so hard to hide," she continued. "And that is how incredibly childish you are."

Riku narrowed his eyes angrily at her, aqua-marine flashing dangerous. "Childish?" he snapped. "I've been getting Sora and me by for seven years! I took on things you couldn't even imagine when you were my age! I took care of us, I protected us! How can you call _me_ childish?"

"Because you are," came the simple reply. "Doing those things doesn't make you an adult, Riku. It's the reasons behind him. And whatever got you in this mess, whatever kept you on the streets starving for seven years, is also the fault of your own childishness. I can see it in your eyes... Your masks don't fool me, Riku. I can see right through them. And I know whatever reasons your tell us, whatever excuse, is a complete lie. I don't know what it is exactly that you've been doing besides stealing for these past seven years, but know that you won't leave this castle until I find out?"

"Were you not listening to me?" Riku muttered bitterly.

"All I heard was your empty threats," she said calmly. "And I think that they're the best choices you've ever made in your whole life."

"Oh? And why is that?"

"Because you're finally doing the right thing. You may not tell us what happened to you on your own. You may not ever trust again. But you're trying to let us help you... for Sora. And for yourself."

_She still doesn't get it, _Riku noted absent-mindedly, stunned into silence as Aerith gave him one last meaningful look and went to answer he knocking at the door, signaling Cloud's arrival.

_None of them do. It isn't my childishness I'm trying to hide._

_It's my selfishness._

_Tails_

A baggy pair of denim jeans topped with a gray muscle shirt and a thick black belt was being pushed into his arms, the fresh-smelling fabric feeling slightly rough in his bare arms. He still wore the t-shirt and sweatpants he's went to sleep in, and they were slightly wrinkled by now.

"Take these and get dressed," Leon commanded quietly, giving Sora a slight shove in the shoulder blades with one hand towards the bathroom door. "You can't walk around walking in those all day."

Sora pouted. "But these jeans probably don't fit me either..."

Leon merely raised an eyebrow at the younger brunet. "That's what the belt is for. Now get moving... that is, unless you want to spend the day in here..."

Leon had never seen anyone move so fast in his whole life. In the blink of an eye, Sora was whirling around and darting into the bathroom, hair whirling out behind him as he rushed through the door and snapped it shut loudly behind him.

Leon blinked once.

Twice.

And then, before he had the time to let even the smallest of smirks curl at his lips, Sora was flying out of the bathroom again. His torso was contorted slight as he tried to pull the shirt down one arm, which was proving to be quite difficult seeing as how the hand of that very same arm was currently fumbling at the best, trying to get the thin rod of metal through the whole in the black leather.

Leon sighed. "You really are impossible..." he muttered, annoyed, as he watched the boy continue to struggle. But did he bother trying to tell the teenager that he was trying to do the same thing with the same arm at once? Oh no.

This was a little thing he liked to call free entertainment.

After around ten minutes, in which Leon leaned up against the wall, his foot propped up on it's cream-colored surface, and watched Sora bounce around in circles as he attempted to multi-task. Something he obviously wasn't very good at. Eventually, Leon had helped him out of the mess. And then there was an argument over what Sora would wear on his feet, for he couldn't walk around barefoot. Aerith would kill the older of the two. She'd probably just give Sora a muffin or something.

_Heaven knows the kid needs something on his bones, _Leon thought ruefully, surprising himself with his own show of emotion.

That was it. He was kicking the kid out now before it wriggled under his skin even more.

Feeling much more awake now that he had his coffee, Leon was back to his rude mannerisms as he ushered Sora out of the door hurriedly, clicking the door shut behind him. Sora wasn't complaining, but he did start to when Leon took an extra long time to lock the door shut.

"Oh come on!" Sora whined, blue eyes looking slightly put out as Leon slowly inserted the key into the lock, and the older brunet seemed to have been fumbling on purpose. "You don't need to lock the door! The whole place is your home anyway!"

"I like to make sure no one gets in here," he replied coldly, now taking his good old time in twisting the bracket of metal.

"No one wants to get in there!" Sora cried desperately, close to grabbing at the man's forearm and dragging him away. "Please, I want to go and see Riku!"

"Well you can wait."

Sora let out a sigh of relief as Leon finally finished locking a multitude of latches and bolts.

And then huffed in frustration as Leon began to burrow in his pockets for something.

"_Now _what are you doing?"

"Looking for my wallet. I need to put my keys away."

Leon noted, with growing amusement, that the boy seemed to have adapted a compulsive twitch at the corner of his left eye.

Leon hummed thoughtfully as he withdrew his hand. "Seems I've forgotten it inside," he muttered to himself. And then he was turning around, and inserting the key with a painstakingly-slow speed once again, this time to unlock the door. "Hold on for a minute, kid. I need to go and find my wallet."

Sora sputtered incoherently, gaping at the man who was now smirking lightly, obviously feeling very proud of himself for torturing the boy so.

But Sora wouldn't have this, oh no. He was about to demand Leon to forget about the stupid wallet so they could finally leave, but he'd already walked into the small apartment and was out of Sora's sight before the teen could get in a word edgewise, the door swinging shut in Sora's face in his wake.

And then, curling his hands and fisting them into his air, Sora hunched over and let out a loud scream. of frustration.

_Heads_

"...I think there's something wrong with Sora."

That grabbed Riku's attention like nothing else could.

"What? What's wrong?" his caretaker asked of the newcomer, who sounded suspiciously like the one he'd met earlier.

"When I was walking by Leon's room, I saw Sora standing outside... screaming bloody murder." _Yeah, definitely Cloud, _Riku thought.

"Leon's probably just teasing him," Aerith was responding reassuringly as she assured Cloud into the room. "You know how he can be in the mornings... remember what he did to Yuffie when she kept him up all night with her music blaring?"

A quiet chuckle. "Yeah... I've never heard so many curses in the span of ten minutes in my life."

Aerith just laughed.

Deciding to give up on his muddled thoughts for now, Riku chose to train one green eye on the two figures approaching his bed. Cloud was carrying in his hands a large tray which was undoubtedly carrying the teen's breakfast, although it carried twice as many plates and bowls as he'd seen the morning before. The blond was staring right back at Riku calmly, almost challenging the younger boy, daring him to try something.

But Riku couldn't do that very well when he was strapped to the bed with his skin being held together by ace bandages and a prayer, now could he?

Aerith sighed, giving up on refereeing the un-spoken challenge of a staring contest (which ended a few seconds later when Riku's bangs flopped into his eyes from an extra hard breath, causing Cloud to chuckle smugly) and taking the tray away from her friend to set on the bedside table.

"There's breakfast here for Sora, too," Aerith informed him, arranging the plates on the tray absent-mindedly as she waited for the afore-mentioned boy to arrive. On the side closest to Riku lay a plate stacked with two pieces of toast and another small bowl filled with slices of apples, a bowl of oatmeal sprinkled with what looked like cinnamon in between.

On the other side was the same, except instead of toast...

"...Aerith, why exactly did you tell me to get a chocolate chip muffin?" Cloud asked, finally looking away from Riku to raise a questioning eyebrow at the nurse beside him. "I thought you wanted to keep them healthy...?"

The brunette would have replied, and her mouth was open in preparation to respond, if it weren't for the abrupt appearance of two more guests.

And then, with a loud cry of "RIIKUU!" and a blur of white, blue and brown, Sora was across the floor in two seconds flat, whipping past the two startled adults and latching himself to Riku's chest.

"WAH! RIKU! ARE YOU OKAY? I'M SO SORRY I DIDN'T MEAN FOR THEM TO GET YOU AND I'M REALLY, REALLY SORRY AND OH MY GOD YOU'RE HURT ARE YOU OKAY? WAH!"

"Yes, Sora, I hurt, and you're really not helping me any," Riku choked out, green eyes wide and partly amused as the brunet continued to dig his face into the crook of his neck, still crying out barely-understandable apologies and babbling questions.

Sighing, realizing Sora wouldn't be releasing him any time soon, Riku just relaxed onto the bed as best as he possibly could. His friend really wasn't helping his injuries at all, and a tearing throb in his chest told him that he'd start to bleed again if Sora didn't release him.

Aerith was thinking along the same lines as Riku as she gently touched Sora's shoulders and squeezed, pulling him back a little bit. It wasn't to really move him, but more to grab his attention. "Sora, Riku needs to rest in bed... you can't cling to him like that. You'll hurt him..."

But either Sora hadn't heard her, or he was just ignoring her, because he didn't budge an inch.

Aerith sighed, rubbing at the bridge of her nose with the thumb and pointer finger of her right hand and placing the other on her hip. "Sora..."

"He's fine," Riku cut in calmly, shifting on the bed slightly to allow Sora room to half-straddle him comfortably. "I can get him off if it hurts too much."

"But you both need something to eat," she pointed out scornfully. And now it was Riku who was starting to develop selective hearing. With her last ounce of inner stubbornness, Aerith said, "Riku, you can either tell Sora to get off of you so you can both eat or Cloud will pullhim off."

That Riku heard.

Shooting her an indignant glare, which Aerith blatantly ignored, Riku sighed and wriggled a bit under his friend. "C'mon, Sora, get up."

Sora didn't budge.

"Don't you want to eat?''

Sora's head perked up a bit, and the pressure on Riku's shoulder lessened a bit. And even thought the older teen couldn't see below his chin, he could tell that Sora was looking up at him now.

"...it has chocolate in it."

"...chocolate...?"

"Yup. And you can't have it unless you get up."

"..."

"Sora, now."

With an aggravated huff, Sora let go, pouting as he settled back into the bed. Since Riku had scooted over enough to accommodate Sora, the brunet took the chance of sitting by Riku's side on the side mattress as he eyed Aerith and Cloud reproachfully.

Eyeing his tensed-up friend worriedly for a moment or two, Riku turned away to look up and ask, "So are you going to untie me to eat or what?"

"No," Cloud and Aerith breathed simultaneously.

Riku frowned. "And how exactly do you expect me to eat with my arms strapped to the bed?"

"Wait... you're strapped to the bed?" Sora cried out, blue eyes wide. He grabbed the edge of Riku's blanket and yanked down. revealing his friends bare chest that was thickly wound in fresh, clean bandages that were so thick it made Riku look twice the size he really was.

But seeing as how Riku was so thin in the first place, it really didn't make too much of a difference anyway.

Sora, however, was focusing on the leather belts that still held his friend trapped to the bed and was tugging insistently at them, turning his blazing blue eyes up to the two adults, and now three seeing as Leon has chosen this moment to enter. Sora'd darted ahead as soon as he saw the familiar infirmary door, leaving the older brunet in his dust as he sped towards it.

"Why's he strapped to the bed?" Sora demanded furiously. He was tugging harder now, and it made Riku wince in tthe slightest. "Let him go! He can't move anyway!"

Aerith bit her bottom lip worriedly. "Sora, it's for Riku's own good. If he moves it'll just hurt..."

"There are different kinds of pain," Sora snapped, cutting her off abruptly in mid-sentence. "And tying him here is just making him hurt worse!"

There was a pregnant pause as Aerith looked down on the both of them in a reprimanding manner. Riku looked surprised at Sora's boldness, and Sora was staring stubbornly back at the brunette, arms crossed over his chest. Leon stood in the doorway, not making a sound, as others began to crowd around behind him. These others consisted of Yuffie and Goofy, both of whom had been walking down the hallway when they heard the screaming. From the sound of hurried footsteps, it could be well-assumed that others were on their way to the scene.

And then, Cloud was brushing past Aerith and towards the bed. He looked down into Riku's eyes for a moment, giving him a scrutinizing glare. Riku felt like his mind was being scanned for some sort of interior motive, as if he had a dagger hidden up his non-existent sleeve and was ready to plunge in into the heart nearest him.

And then the blond was unbuckling the straps one at a time. Aerith stood in stunned silence as she watched her friend work swiftly, and her tongue finally unglued itself from the bottom of her mouth when he shifted the blanket to get the ones at Riku's bare ankles.

"Cloud!" she said sharply, fixing him with an unbelieving stare. "You can't..."

"It doesn't matter," was Cloud's short reply. When Riku's legs were finally released, he turned and said to the woman, "If Riku doesn't sit still, then good for him. The pain will keep him down better then any straps can, and maybe he'll learn a good lesson from it, hm?"

Riku, ever-so reluctant to admit to that, just glared some more.

With a soft sigh, Aerith finally managed an uneasy smile, not to keen on the idea of teaching a lesson with pain for the punishment. "All right, then," she said. "Now you both need to start eating, or it'll be stone cold."

Both Riku and Sora shared a quick glance before accepting their meals in silence.

Then knew a lucky shot when they saw them, and they appreciated it. Because lucky shots never happened too often to them.

_End_

**I don't care if it took a long time to update, and I admit that the writing isn't even meeting my own low standards. But I'm too tired, and I feel terrible.**

**Reviews would be great. But please don't yell at me, or start going at me to update OTHER stories. Because that just fucking pisses me off. I don't need to deal with any half-assed insults right now.**

**I hope this chapter was all right. Expect the next one to be sooner and longer. And I'm sorry if I sound snappy... I'm just really tired right now. And upset. So... yeah.**


	12. Rare Coins

**I have a list of the top places I like to spill my problems and, unfortunately, author notes is among the top three. So I'm going to stop doing that. Just wanted to get it across that I'm really snappy lately and I don't like it when people pile up more work when bugging me to update. Only three people are allowed to do that.**

**Well, here's the next chapter. I've been drawing everything out for too long, and from now on I'm going to stick to my notes and fit it all in one chapter, even if it ends up being eight or thirty pages.**

_Rare Coins_

_Tails_

Sora was twiddling his foot a bit in it's joint as his fingers pressed into the paper holder of his muffin, watching Aerith and Cloud watch him. He didn't eat. He couldn't with them just... _staring _at him like that.

"...Can I help you?" he asked when he'd finally mustered up the courage to do so.

"Well, you could eat," Aerith suggested.

"Um..."

"Why don't you stop staring at him like he has two noses, then?" Riku muttered calmly. He, too, hadn't started. Neither teen liked to be stared at, and no one would like it when the were eating.

"What else would you like us to do, then?" Cloud asked.

Sora absent-mindedly drew his finger down through the air at his side to see if the tension was as thick as it seemed.

"Leave?"

"No."

"Then just stop staring!"

Sora was glaring hard now at something over Riku's shoulder, but the older teen seemed to brush it off with ease.

Aerith sighed as she was resigned to referee another staring match between Cloud and Riku, shaking her head and switching gazes as she instead fixated her eyes onto Sora, who seemed to be bristling in his spot on the bed as he continued to gaze over Riku's shoulder. Raising an eyebrow, Aerith turned her head over her shoulders to look and see what Sora was staring at.

There, in the doorway, were four new people. Yuffie and Goofy stood side-by-side, giggling at Riku and Cloud's antics, while Donald stood indifferently at their heels with his wings crossed and perched over his feathered chest. And there, only half-way across the threshold, was the reason for Sora's attitude himself; King Mickey.

Riku, too, had finally realized what Sora was so riled up about. Breaking away from his stupor ("I win again," Cloud smirked) Riku chose to murmur out of the corner of his mouth, although completely audible to the rest of the room, "Just ignore him."

Mickey sighed dejectedly, obviously put-out by the teens' nature towards him. "C'mon, fellas. What'd I do wrong?"

Riku and Sora simply ignored the mouse, sipping from their glasses of orange juice in favor of responding.

Peering from one set of guarded eyes to the other, Aerith just shook her head at the two and turned back to the new arrivals. "Well, come in then," she said with a small smile. "But you'll need to leave in an hour or two, your majesty. I need to give Riku more salve, and then sleep."

Riku gave a tiny, derisive snort, one that only the two brunettes could hear.

"Don't test me," Aerith warned him quietly.

"Well, we won't be here long," King Mickey was saying reassuringly as he stepped all the way in through the infirmary and towards the bed. Casting the brunet a concerned look when he shrunk down closer to his silver-haired companion, he finished, "I wanted to talk to you guys about that deal, Riku. Y'know, the one I told you about yesterday?"

Sora gave his friend a curious look, which Riku shook off with a shrug of his shoulders. "Whatever."

"It'd be nice if you could look at the person you're talking to," Leon said coldly, giving them a cold glare.

"Oh, they don't need to!" Mickey laughed easily, shaking his head. "But I just wanted to introduce ourselves!"

"We know who you are," Riku grit out, growing impatient. His fists were curling into the bed sheets beneath him in an emotion the king didn't understand at all.

"Well you obviously don't _know _us," Mickey pointed out, "or else you wouldn't be ignoring us. We aren't bad people!"

They said nothing in return.

"So I'll introduce us!" King Mickey said happily, as if they were eagerly anticipating this. "I'm King Mickey," Riku was rolling his eyes, "this is Yuffie," the ninja winked, "Donald," the duck 'hmph'ed somewhere in their general direction, "Goofy," ("Ahyuck!"), "Cloud..."

Sora finally broke his seal of silence. "Wait a minute... _Cloud? _Your name is _Cloud?_"

Ignoring the affronted glare 'Cloud' gave him, Sora rounded on Leon. "Then who the Hell are you, 'Sunshine'?"

"That's quite enough," Aerith spoke gently, ignoring it as Riku choked on the mouthful of oatmeal he was eating with his quiet chuckles and as Yuffie clutched at her stomach, howling in laughter. King Mickey covered his eyes with large gloved hand and kept the other on his hip as his back hunched over in his laughter. Cloud was smirking in Leon's direction, while Mr. Sunshine himself glared daggers at bewildered-looking Sora.

"What?" Sora blinked. "What'd I say?"

"Sora, just shut up," Riku sighed, shaking his head as he resigned himself back to his stoic nature. Sora fell into place behind him, lowering his gaze to the tray on his lap as he, too, began to eat.

"...I thought you wanted to keep 'em healthy, Aerith?"

"I do."

"Then... why is he eating a chocolate chip muffin?"

"Because he looks like a chocolate lover!" Aerith gushed, patting the boy on the head. The brunet bristled under her touch, pouting, and Riku snorted quietly to himself.

"Well, this is Leon," Aerith said as she picked up Mickey's previous train of thought, motioning towards said man.

"Lovely," Riku bit out sarcastically. "Now are you done?"

"Not yet!" King Mickey pointed out, quite cheerfully considering Riku's rude manner. "We still need to ask you fellas a few questions, first!"

"Before you decide on our sentence?" Riku finished for him, unnecessarily in Mickey's eyes. "Why not just get it over with and throw us in jail?"

"Aw, we wouldn't do that to you fellas!"

"We wouldn't?" Donald asked numbly.

"Shucks, no! They're too young!"

"Then what are you going to do? Call our parents?" Riku snorted derisively, shaking his head.

"Well, no, we weren't planning on it," Mickey admitted. He fixed Riku with his beady eyes and said, "But it might help. Are they in the town somewhere?"

"I doubt it," Donald cut in. "The guards swept the place; they didn't find anyone else living there."

"Well, they have to have parents!" Yuffie huffed. "They need to be out there somewhere! Why don't ya just ask?"

"I thought you tried the questions already?" Cloud rose an eyebrow at her. "He wouldn't answer, remember?"

"Don't you just love it how they talk about us as if we weren't here?" Riku asked his friend conversationally, munching on his toast while Sora busied himself with his brown sugar drenched oatmeal.

"You're welcome to join in on the conversation ay time," Aerith reminded him placidly. "You just choose not to."

Riku hummed thoughtfully, resting his chin on an open palm and fixing her with a smug expression on his face. "But that would involve us answering your questions, wouldn't it?"

"Hm. Why yes, it would."

Sora regarded them with a weary expression on his face, giving up on his food for the time being as he watched the two exchange falsely-sweet words. It seemed Riku wasn't the only one who liked to keep up a sarcastic conversation. His fingers played by his side absent-mindedly as he stared hard at his lap, refusing to look up. He could feel several sets of eyes searing into him; their gazes burned deeply into his head, leaving behind a nervousness that wouldn't leave him alone. Instead it settled in his gut, making his mind twist and his blood boil and flush faster in his veins.

Cold fingers brushed against his hands, curling and clasping.

His blue eyes looked up uncertainly to see Riku watching him with one concerned eye as he kept up his conversation with the brunette, his head tilted to the side slightly. He squeezed Sora's hand gently, reassuringly.

_Everything will be fine._

Smiling a bit, Sora turned his hand over and squeezed back, just as faint but with his own resolve.

_I know._

Which he didn't.

"So... about your parents."

The brunet blinked. He was dimly aware of the fact that the conversation being held had already circled back to the beginning, and now Aerith was taking up a new stand.

"What about them?" Riku asked coolly. He squeezed Sora's hand again, a little more firmly, a silent order to remain quiet. Sora did so gladly, although inwardly peeved that Riku thought he even needed a warning.

"Where are they?" Aerith pressed. "Are they in trouble financially? Did they have you steal?"

"No," Riku said calmly.

"Do you even... have any parents?"

"I don't know. Maybe."

A heavy sigh as Aerith shook her head, frowning. "Please, Riku. This is important!"

"Important for what?" Riku asked. His icy green eyes were narrowed slightly in annoyance, and were now growing slightly unfocused before he set them sharp again. His body was slightly more hunched then before as exhaustion nagged at his spent body. Sora subtly leaned in closer, offering Riku something to lean in against to take some of the weight off himself, which he did more then gratefully.

"Look, fellas. We like to be patient, but you aren't giving us anything here!" Mickey sighed in exasperation. "So I'll put it simply for you. You have two options. Well, either option we'll have to wait until Riku's all better, and I don't know how long that will take. But the first option is something like house arrest. You can't go to jail when you two are so young, but we can keep you both locked up in this castle."

"For how long?" Riku inquired.

"Well, the same number of years you've been stealing. Seven."

Riku winced and Sora drew in a sharp breath by his side.

"When you're both eighteen, you'll go to a real jail to serve out the rest of your sentence," Mickey said grimly. "But your second option will last you only three years."

The teens' attention perked back up, and their undivided attention now lie on the king. As did everyone else's.

"Like I said, it would only be for three years!" King Mickey assured them hurriedly, as if afraid he'd lose their attention once again. "You wouldn't be locked up in one room, but, of course, you couldn't go running around outside whenever you wanted. And you'd have to get some good schoolin' from one of the professors around here, and we'd all watch out after you, and you need to follow our rules, and..."

"Just spit it out already!" Riku snapped, impatience growing due to his exhaustion, although it didn't stop several people in the room from sending him a reproachable look.

King Mickey didn't seem to mind. "Well, for three years... you two would work for us. And be servants at this castle."

And Sora's jaw promptly dropped several inches, as did the size of Riku's eyes, as they sat their, numb with shock. Both tried to comprehend what was just offered to them, although neither wanted to believe it. It was just too much...

"You don't have to decide now!" Mickey assured them in a rush, waving a gloved hand as he took in their bewildered expressions. "I mean, Aerith said Riku won't be better for at least another month, so you don't have to decide for a while. But it'd be nice if you could tell us now so, ya know, we could get ready..."

It was obvious that neither boy was taking in any words being spoken to them. They simply sat there, dumb-founded. It was Sora who, after a long moment of silence, broke through it.

"Wh-what do you mean?" he choked out. "Like, being one of those people I saw? Those guys wearing the white shirts and ties?"

"Yup! Those are the ones!"

"And you want us to clean and take orders from you?"

"Er, yes?"

"...are you kidding me?"

"Umm... no?"

And Riku chose this moment to say, "That's bull shit!"

"Riku!" Aerith snapped. "Don't use that kind of language, please!"

Riku didn't listen to her. "Those are our options?" he hissed. "They're practically the same!"

"So you want to stay in one room for the next seven years of your life?" Leon asked coolly.

"No," Riku said flatly. "But do you expect us to start serving you for three years?"

"Not unless you choose the other option," Cloud remarked quietly. "You've been breaking the law for seven years. Did you expect us to go easy on you?"

"C'mon, guys, the second option ain't so bad!" Yuffie laughed. "It's only three years! How bad could it be?"

"You're just saying that so you can order us to stand still so you can braid our hair," Sora quipped randomly.

Riku blinked. "Sora... what the Hell?"

"I dunno," Yuffie shrugged. Then she laughed sheepishly. "But Sora was right."

"Yuffie, shut up," Leon growled under his breath.

"Well, you don't have to decide for a while..." King Mickey began. But he was cut off, again, by a new voice.

"Your majesty?"

Everyone turned to the doorway to see a tall and lanky god standing there, only slightly shorter then Goofy, with an outfit that matched the afore-mentioned captain only without the badge. "Your majesty, Captain Goofy and Donald are needed in the courtyard."

"Now what happened?" Donald grumbled.

"The fires caused one of the balcony's to collapse, sir," he paused to shoot the two teens on the bed an accusing look, "and we need help to move it..."

"All right, all right, we're coming," Donald quacked. "C'mon, Goofy. Don't see why they need our help, though..."

And with that, the three left. An awkward silence filled the room in their absence, and no one seemed to be willing to carry on their previous conversation.

"Well... it's time to give Riku more salve," Aerith said gently. "So, Sora, why don't you go with Cloud and Leon for a while?"

"No way!" Sora protested, sinking closer to Riku, who winced as the mattress shifted beneath them. "They'll maul me!"

"We will not," Cloud said, running his fingers through his hair as he got up from the chair he was sitting on.

"Will too!" Sora insisted stubbornly, clamping his hands around Riku's forearm to show he wouldn't budge an inch.

Riku groaned in pain as Sora's grip tightened. "Sora, let go... that _hurts_."

"Don't worry, they won't," Aerith informed him gently, giving him a kind smile. "You can come back some time in the afternoon, all right? I need to give you a check-up, too. See what kind of injuries you have."

"Shouldn't you do that first?" King Mickey asked.

"I don't see any blood, and no signs of broken bones from the way he moves," Aerith told the mouse. "Just scratches and bruises, which I'll heal later. But now, Riku needs rest."

Sora still looked doubtful, and he didn't relinquish his hold on Riku's arm, despite his friend's pointed glare.

"Yuffie can go with you," Aerith said, pulling out her last bribe. "Don't worry, she'll annoy them enough so that they'll leave you alone."

After an encouraging nudge from the older teen, Sora sighed and finally let his friend go. With a soft, "Fine," he slid his legs over the side of the bed and let his feet plop to the floor before straightening himself up again. He turned on his heel and gave Riku a questioning look. At the nod of approval, Sora inched himself away from the bed.

And jumped slightly when, out of nowhere, Yuffie appeared at his side, slinging an arm over his shoulders and pulling him close to her side.

"Wow, you're really light!" she observed as she easily pulled him from the bed and jauntily skipped to the door, the poor brunet struggling to keep up.

"How did I end up having to follow those two?" Cloud muttered dryly as he and Leon slowly followed the two as both Sora and Yuffie whipped out of sight.

"So that I won't have to suffer all by myself," Leon retorted quietly, obviously not too happy as the rest of his day was planned out painfully in front of his mind. And he wasn't looking forward to it.

Riku remained quiet as he listened to Yuffie's bubbly voice chatter away at his unresponsive friend, and the echoing footfalls of their two reluctant guardians. It took at least a minute before Yuffie's voice was finally drowned out by a thick silence, one that they stayed in for several long moments. Long moments in which Riku never looked up to regard who was left, and kept his eyes glued to the spot where he'd last seen Sora's eyes.

Eyes that trusted him.

Eyes that would follow him.

Eyes that told Riku that the decision was his and his alone. That Sora wouldn't help in making the choice, giving it to Riku who wasn't so sure that he wanted to decide.

How could he keep his energetic friend locked away, wasting the last years of his childhood before it gave away to an adult life?

But how could he subject them to a life of serving their enemies?

Neither decision seemed fair. And he didn't want to choose.

_I can't do this._

"I'm... going to get some more medicine," Aerith informed him quietly. "I've run out. I'll be back in a little while. I may have to make more."

_See if I care._

The soft patter of her small feet resounded throughout the room which was otherwise filled with a stiff silence. Riku remained in his half-sitting position, because he knew that if he moved the burns in his back would automatically start to sear with pain once again, and every gash in his body would start to bleed with a burning pain once again. So he remained upright, his eyelids weighing a ton as he forced himself to blink in an automatic rhythm.

He was alone now.

_Wait... am I?_

_The duck and dog... Sora, Cloud, Leon, and Yuffie..._

_Oh no._

_Aerith just left... which means..._

Slowly, cautiously, filled with a strong sense of foreboding, Riku turned his head, His silver bangs draped over his face and hung heavily over his eyes, but he could still see.

"Hiya there!"

_Damn it._

Riku sighed, not in the mood to talk to his chipper enemy at the moment. He said nothing just looked over the mouse's head and focused on the creamy wall there that was besmirched by a circular clock, rounded by a polished cherry wood; the pale face seemed to be sneering at him as the hands slowly ticked away the time, a slow rhythm that never rolled by any slower then this.

"...Is it really so bad to just look at me?"

It was the apprehension, the hurt, in the voice that, more then anything, finally made Riku look the mouse in the eyes.

Mickey smiled at him, but it was a sad one, a sympathetic one. "You don't want to make this decision on your own, do you?" he asked quietly.

Riku just shrugged in response, resigned to carrying on a conversation.

"Well... what do you think?" King Mickey asked. Even though he sat on a chair, he still had to look up at the silver-haired boy, which he did in order to meet his eyes. "What do you want?"

"To get out of here," Riku responded immediately, not bothering to hesitate. In his opinion, the question was one the mouse should have already known the answer.

"Are you sure about that?"

This was something Riku had not expected. "Of course I am," the human replied. "Why would I want to be stuck here?"

"Weren't you stuck out there, too?" Mickey asked quietly. "You were stuck out on the streets, and you stole just to eat. But what I don't get it why you didn't go to anyone for help... Someone would have helped you, Riku. This whole mess could have been stopped before it got out of hand! And now look where you are!"

"I'm fine---"

"No, you aren't! Riku, you almost died less then a day ago! You could have _died_! And you still can if you won't take our help!"

"I won't die!" Riku hissed. "Injuries like this can never kill me!"

"No, but the disease that you carry can!"

Riku stopped, his mouth agape as if he were prepared to say something else. He blinked a few times at the king, who was regarding him with angry eyes. Misunderstanding eyes. "Disease?" he echoed quietly. "What disease?"

The mouse sighed. "I guess Aerith didn't tell you..." he muttered quietly. "When she was trying to heal you... with magic... she couldn't. And she ran a few tests."

"Tests? Tests for what?"

"Let me finished!" Mickey insisted. When Riku closed his mouth., his eyes taking on a more curious glint then an angry one, he continued. "When a cure spell is used on you, it goes to the brain. It will increase the number of white blood cells that the brain sends out, and it sorta speeds up your natural healing rate. Or maybe it freezes it? I dunno, but the magic's like an extra spurt of white blood cells that heals what's in the body that shouldn't be there. Like bruises, broken bones, cuts..."

"Then what's that have to do with me?" Riku interrupted. "Why can't I get healed like that?"

"Because," Mickey said, "of the disease. It blocks the pathway the magic goes through and it won't let the magic affect your brain, so the magic can't spread."

"Well... that I get, I guess," Riku muttered. His uneasiness of talking to the mouse was slowly dispersing itself as it gave way to his natural and strong sense of curiosity. "But where'd this disease come from?"

King Mickey shrugged. "Aerith's still a bit iffy about it, but she says that the man cause of the disease is a ton of stress. Stress from emotions, stress from pain... and from what I've heard, you had more then your share of both."

Riku's eyes floated back down the hands gently folded on his lap, brows furrowing in thought. A disease? He really had that?

"Which is why---even though I really don't have a say---I think you should stick with the three-year-deal, instead of jail," King Mickey said quietly. "It isn't as bad as it seems, Riku. Just three years of doing chores. You and Sora could have off on weekends, you'd have real food, education... And at the end of three years, you're free to go."

"Yeah, right back to the beginning," Riku snorted. "And what are we supposed to do once we get out, huh? Where can we go then? Right back to you, of course."

"You didn't let me finish!" King Mickey exclaimed. "At the end of those three years, I would add up the pension a normal servant would get after three years, and it would be yours. In a safe banking account, of course, not in coin. But you'd have three years of work and enough money to get yourselves started. And not only that... but whatever forced you to get out on those streets, it would go away."

"No, it really wouldn't," Riku muttered bitterly. "No matter how many years I spent here, it won't go away."

"I'm sure after a few years here, you'll be fine!" King Mickey laughed, seeming to take on a lighter tone of voice now that Riku wasn't back to snapping at him.

"It's... not what you think it is," Riku murmured quietly. But after seeing the mouse's smile start to frown, he could foresee another conversation that would undoubtedly lead to question the teen did not want to answer. "So... three years, huh?"

"Yup! Ha ha!"

"Any way we could shorten that?"

King Mickey's brows furrowed slightly. "To what?"

"Two."

"Hmm..." King Mickey hummed thoughtfully. "I dunno... after all, you are thieves, no matter what the age. I dunno if I should allow that..."

"Then _I'll _make a deal with _you_." Riku smirked. "By the end of two years, I'll tell you what's kept us out on the streets for so long."

Mickey laughed. "And what makes you think I want to know, hm?"

"I can see it in your eyes," Riku said smugly. "You're curious, aren't you?"

Mickey laughed sheepishly. "Yeah, I guess I am. Almost as curious as you, hm?"

"What makes you think _I'm _curious?" Riku asked quizzically.

"The fact that you stopped glaring at me when I started to talk about things you didn't know."

Riku mentally cursed himself.

"So, you trust me now?" King Mickey asked.

"Nope," Riku replied easily, shifting a bit to straighten himself before his arms fell asleep completely, wincing as he did so. "In fact, I hate your guts."

A pause. And then, to the teen's surprise, a laugh. "I can live with that, pal!" the mouse said gaily.

"I'm not your 'pal'," Riku said stubbornly, slowly sinking back into his rude mannerisms.

"Who knows? You might be after two years." And then, before Riku could snap back with an insult, he stuck out his hand. "So two years, and you'll tell me your secret. Deal?"

Riku eyed his hand wearily. Second doubts nagged at his hearts, telling him to stop and bop the mouse on the head, steal every bit of money he found in the castle, get Sora, and run like Hell. But the other part of his mind realized he no longer had a choice in the matter.

And for once, the prayer he didn't realize he'd always been making was answered.

He took King Mickey's hand in his firmly, shaking once with the mouse king who smiled at him, a truly genuine smile.

And Riku felt some of the weight he'd been carrying for so many years sidle off of his heart, and suddenly, the pain from his scarred body was minimized. Even if it was just a bit.

Something caught his eye, a small movement as the door creaked open. He watched as Aerith entered the wall, looking at their clasped hands with a look of approval.

And Riku dropped Mickey's hand like a hot brick.

"What took you so long?" he asked, raising an eyebrow as she sat down a lucid green bottle on the bedside table, as well as a small white box and several fresh, bright white hand towels.

"I had to get a few more needles," she said calmly. "We were out. And I have to make up some more salve."

"Wait... needles?" Riku said slowly, apprehensions interlacing his words. "What for?"

"Well," she said sweetly, "you have a few broken bones in your arm. And the only way to get salve on them is to inject it right into the bone. Doesn't that sound like fun?"

"Ummm... I'm gonna go now," King Mickey said hesitantly, slowly sliding out of his chair and backing away, eyeing Riku's paling face with sympathy. "When should I tell Leon and Cloud to bring Sora back?"

"Around five, would be good."

"Okay. Oh, and Aerith?"

"Yes?"

"Should I tell the staff to ignore the screams coming from the infirmary/"

"That'd be wonderful! Thank you."

"Ha ha, no problem!"

And still chuckling a bit, King Mickey left the infirmary, leaving behind a very-much frightened Riku as the nurse moved in on his left arm.

It didn't take longer then five minutes for the screaming to start.

_Heads_

"Are you done yet?"

"Not yet, Sora."

"...how about now?"

"No, Sora. Not yet. Just hold on."

"But it feels funny!"

"That's the magic spreading, Sora. It'll only take a minute more."

"Nrrrrgh..."

Sora had returned to the infirmary fifteen minutes ago, much to Riku's relief, unmarred. Although he did have a slight head ache from Yuffie yapping at him the whole day. King Mickey had come with him, and Yuffie had chosen to run off and hang out with her friends in favor of staying with everyone else. Cloud and Leon were also there, sitting on chairs by the wall with King Mickey.

Sora sat cross-legged on the bed next to Riku's as Aerith's hands gently cupped the sides of his head, her green magic seeping into his skull and spreading throughout his body, making him grow a faint green color that made Riku snigger and Sora pout.

And then, several complaints from the brunet later, Aerith finally pulled back. The green aura gently diminished into nothingness. Sora's cuts were melded over with fresh, pink skin, and his bruises had faded into tiny molts of dark colors before they shrank into nothing. The aches in his bones receded as well, and Sora stretched a bit, hearing them give a small crack as they relieved the tension settled in his back.

"That feels better," he murmured gratefully. "Thanks."

"No problem," Aerith responded, pulling back. She shook her hands out slightly and, looking at the brunet's curious face, said, "Just getting the circulation back to them. Casting magic isn't easy."

Sora nodded, and looked over at his friend who hadn't uttered a single peep since the brunet had arrived. He was hunched over and studying the two scrolls of parchment sitting on his legs.

"What are those, anyway?" Sora asked. "You must've read them at least three times by now..."

"They're called contracts, Sora," Riku replied absent-mindedly, gently running a finger under each line as he read them, so as to not misunderstand a single word.

"C'mon, Riku! Do you really have that little faith in me?" King Mickey asked as Riku continued to read the second contract for the fourth time.

"Yes," Riku responded automatically, reaching the last paragraph before the single line with an X at the left side of it.

Leon snorted. "We don't have all day, kid."

"Don't call me kid," Riku said moodily, although there wasn't much bite to it. He'd just been woken up by Sora jumping on his bed out of nowhere, and he wanted to go back to sleep. Unfortunately, Aerith was doing his other arm after this. And he wanted to postpone that as long as possible.

"Umm... Riku?"

"Yeah?"

"Which option did you choose?"

Aware that every eye was on him now, Riku just shrugged, not in the mood to explain. "Ask the rat."

"For that, you're the one telling him," Mickey huffed.

"C'mon, Riku!" Sora whined, getting up from his bed to crawl over to Riku's. Leaning his hands onto the mattress and locking his elbows, Sora arched himself over the bed to read what was on the paper. "How can you even understand this stuff? Is it even in English?"

"And this, Sora, is the reason why you're not reading it over," Riku muttered before sighing. Leafing one of them up into his fingers, he handed it to Sora. "Here. You sign that one."

"What am I signing, though?" Sora asked, taking the offered contract and tilting his head to look at it from a different angle, as if to decipher it from this new point of view. "What's the deal?"

Riku sighed, watching Sora as he now held it between thumb and forefinger, holding it up to the light. "Don't worry about it, Sora. Just sign and I'll tell you about it later."

"No," Sora replied stubbornly, still peering at his contract. "I want to know."

Rolling his eyes, Riku flipped back the first page to the second, where the line for his signature resided. "Whatever," he said easily. "I'll tell you tonight, Sora. I don't want to explain it now."

And all of a sudden, a hand plopped down onto the paper, blocking Riku's view. Slightly annoyed, and self-conscious of the fact that everyone was staring. the silver-haired teen looked up. "Yes?"

"It's just a simple question!" Sora pouted, stubborn cerulean eyes boring down into Riku's sea green ones. "Seven years or three?"

"Neither," Riku said simply.

"Neither?" Aerith echoed. Looking over at her king, she asked in a skeptic voice, "Your Majesty?"

"Riku's right," Mickey assured her. "Me and him made a deal! And instead of three years, it's two!"

"So I guess we're taking the second option then, hm?" Sora asked Riku glumly, a bitter smile on his face.

"Would you rather be locked up for seven years?" Riku asked, surprised.

"Nah," his brunet friend replied. "Just feels like we're choosing the lesser of the two evils."

"That's because we are," Riku stated, calmly plucking Sora's hand away from his paper. "Now let's just get this over with."

Aerith was just handing Riku the fountain pen she'd fetched from her desk on the other side of the room when Sora noticed it. His eyes narrowed in suspicion as his gaze flew from one contract to the other. "Hold up... Riku, are these the exact same?"

"The exact same, Sora," Riku said in a monotonous voice. His pen just touched the parchment when his friend said something else.

"Then why is yours longer?"

Brws furrowed, Riku pretended to study them both for a few moments longer, silently thankful that the others had started their own conversations and weren't piercing holes into their minds with their stares. "No they aren't, Sora. You're just imagining things."

"No I'm not!" Sora snapped! "Look! Mine reaches down half of the second page, but yours is a full two pages!"

"Stop being paranoid," RIku chuckled. "Besides, why does it matter?"

"What else is in yours?" Sora asked, eyes narrowed. "There's no way you shortened down three years to two without doing something extra, and it's in there. Tell me!"

"No, Sora! Don't worry about it!"

"Well I am!"

Everyone was staring at them again.

And quite frankly, Riku didn't give a damn.

"Sora, it's nothing to make a fuss about! Just sign the damn paper!"

"Why? Why won't you tell me what you did?"

"Trust me, it's fine!"

"What did you do?"

Seeing that this was getting nowhere, and a moment of quick thinking later, Riku said in the calmest voice that he could muster, "Sora, give me your paper."

Sora blinked. "Why?"

"So I can write you name for you." Riku smirked, waving the pen idly in his fingers in a taunting manner. "With the chicken scratch you write in, it just might turn out looking more like 'Dave' or something."

"It would not!" Sora puffed, lower lip jutting out.

Riku laughed. "Yes it would! Your hand-writing is atrocious, Sora." And he started another round of laughter.

With another huff if indignation, Sora's hand snapped out, curling around the end of the pen and yanking it from Riku's grasp. "I can write fine!" he declared. And then, in the neatest writing that he could use, he scrawled his name on the bold line that trailed from the X and streaked the page.

Smirking in triumph, Sora showed it to his friend, who looked just as smug. "See, I can write my name just fine?"

"Yup, you sure proved me wrong," Riku said light-heartedly, plucking the pen from the brunet's hand and quickly scribbling his name in narrow, slanted cursive on his own contract. "You wrote your name nice and legible on the dotted line. Good job."

Sora was just about to agree when it hit him.

"Hey... wait a minute! You tricked me!"

"Ha ha ha h---OOF! GAH! Sora! Get oooooff!"

But the only thing on the brunet's agenda was sweet, sweet revenge as he poked and prodded every inch of skin he could see of Riku's stomach, making the teen squirm beneath him as he tried to hold in his laughter, which proved quite impossible for the other people in the room as they, too joined in on the laughter.

But Riku and Sora didn't pay attention to them. For racing deep beneath their smile, behind their pristine eyes, was a rift that seemed to be cracking along the thin line that separated their trusts.

Because Riku was keeping things from Sora.

Because they were tricking each other with their lies.

Because they were plastering masks on their faces to play puppets for their puppet masters as they laughed at them, the sound noisy and uproarious to their ears as their souls tried to cover up the sound, trying desperately to get to the other and hold on before it was too late.

But it was too late. It was just too late.

And the rift began to crack another inch. Their eyes met, and for once... neither knew what the other was thinking.

Because they were scared.

Because somewhere in their minds lurked a thing that the other didn't know about, and that neither understood.

And it was scratching, crawling, and biting it's way through the rift and into their hearts as it clawed out a new path, one that, for the next two years, they were to take.

And would take utterly alone.

_End_

**This is the last part of truly in-depth plot you'll see for several more chapters. Because I'm going to be focusing on light-hearted fun, which is supposedly one of the main genres of this story. **

**I hope you all liked it... I enjoyed writing it, and it only took me a day. Which surprised me a lot... usually I work on and off on a chapter for weeks before finally posting. So... surprise?**

**Please review! It didn't take too long for this chapter to come out! And it's long!**


	13. A Metallic Taste

**Did you all like the twenty-page chapter?**

**I did.**

**Too bad this one isn't twenty pages XD. Sorry guys, not enough time. I want this done BEFORE one in the morning.**

**By the way, please note this. Everyone has their breaking point. This just happens to be when Sora reaches his.**

_A Metallic Taste_

_Tails_

Moonlight, as thick and pearly white as fresh milk, poured through the ajar windows and slicked through the air to spill over their beds in luminous folds, encasing both boys in a gentle embrace of darkness and light. The winds whispered soft lullabies in their ears, desperate to replenish stolen comforts that were slowly disappearing with every tick of the clock on the wall. Their sheets shifted with their moving bodies, refusing to stay still and making a loud noise that cut through the atmosphere and blended in with what sounded like the hoots of an owl in the distance, probably lounging on a gnarled branch of one of the many trees in the Mystic Forest that spread around the castle in a crescent moon shape.

"Sora... you're not asleep, are you?"

A candle, which once burned brightly in the dark room, finally shortened its wick enough to hit the puddle of wine-colored wax. With a hiss and a sputter, its life ended quickly and the warm glow dispersed itself, subduing to the darkness that immediately took it's place.

"No... These beds are too soft."

Eyes glowed softly, bright colors shining brighter then the moon, refusing to meet the other gaze, as both sets were settled in opposite directions. This, of course, was the only reason they wouldn't look at each other. Flipping over was just too dutiful of a task.

And the mountain of lies would soon topple over if any more was added to it.

"Did you sleep any last night?"

"Yeah... Heh, I was so tired I just sort of passed out."

"Hn."

"What about you, Riku? Sleep any last night?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah, I did."

"That's good..."

Dead silence.

Awkward silence.

_It just doesn't belong._

_We aren't strangers._

_We're best friends._

_So many..._

_...secrets..._

_...why can't he tell me..._

_Why can't he just leave it be?_

_Talk to me, Riku._

_Say anything._

_This isn't the end. You promised..._

_...I promised..._

"That we'd always be together."

It wasn't so much that they'd spoken their thoughts out loud, words stumbling from their minds before a dam could blockade their way that surprised the two. It was that they'd both spoken at the same time.

The exact same thing.

"What're you talking about?"

And again. Maybe they weren't drifting as far apart as they both thought.

"Um... nothing." A quick hand swiftly messing up one side of his spiky brown locks.

Or maybe it was worse then they'd both predicted.

"It isn't nothing," is what Riku longed to say. The sentence was already at the tip of his tongue, ready to fly out, but his mouth snapped shut a moment later. A thick lump was settled in his throat, and as much as he tried to swallow it down, all it did was swell with mounting panic as Sora continued to remain quiet.

_This isn't like him. C'mon, Sora, just talk to me._

"I..." A thick swallow could be heard over the buzz of silence. "I've... I've changed my mind."

Riku didn't bother to raise a eyebrow quizzically at this. Even if Sora was facing him, it was too dark to see. Sora was the one bathed in moonlight, and only a strip of it stretched far enough to brush against Riku's waist. "Changed your mind about what, Sora?"

And finally, _finally_, Sora shifted on his soft bed that ran parallel to his friends and sat up straight, shoulders twisting until he could properly give Riku's back a stern look. "It isn't nothing, Riku."

_We need to talk, right?_

"We need to talk."

This time, Riku couldn't hold back a smug expression, his lips twisting into a tiny smirk. "Sora, go to sleep."

"Like Hell I'm going to sleep!" Sora snapped back, a pout evident in his voice although his face was out of Riku's view at the moment. "I want to talk about earlier!"

"I don't," Riku muttered stubbornly, curling up tighter into a ball and wincing in the process. The salve had done wonders so far, but it still hurt to stretch his skin even a bit. The scabs made his body feel stiff and strange, numbness shattering with every move he made to be replace by pain that made him cringe. But truth be told, Riku wanted very much to talk.

Because something deep, deep inside of him was screaming that he wasn't the only one who was keeping secrets.

"You know me so well, Riku." More shifting, crisp linen scraping against bandages and skin as Sora leaned forward, the bed creaking with the strain of Sora's weight. "So you should know that... I know you just as well. And... you want to talk, too."

Heaving a heavy sigh, his warm breath tickling the silver bangs and sending them drifting upwards for a moment before settling over his green eyes once more. His pale eyelids slowly slid shut, blocking out the darkness, green irises hidden from the sight of Sora's dark shadow reflecting on ghostly gray walls. "So what if I do?" he was whispering. "What does it matter?" The lump in his throat was expanding again. "There's nothing to talk about, really."

"You mean you won't **let **yourself talk." Sora's words were frozen, sending sparks flying between the two, icy shards ripping into Riku's ears and echoing there for a moment or two afterwards. A bitter tone Sora never used, ever in his entire life. His voice scared Riku more than just a bit, the numbness in his body starting to tingle in fretful anticipation, which only heightened as Sora continued. "Riku, all I want is to fucking **talk**. Or is whatever's going through your head too complicated for dumb me to understand?"

"Sora, don't be such a brat," Riku muttered. "Don't you think I would tell you if I could?"

"They're just WORDS, Riku!" Sora snapped. "It's one thing to act on them, but another to just SAY them! And you can't even give me that! Damn it, Riku! We're stuck in this damn HELL HOLE for the next two years and there's no way I'm going to spend it alone!"

"You won't have to!" Riku responded quickly, astounded, as he struggled to finally face his fiery friend. His face contorted into one of agony, and he gritted his teeth against it. His breathing was growing shallow as he struggled to keep up with his frantic heart that seemed to have some sort of jump start, adrenaline soaring through his body and giving him the energy to full sit up. "Sora, I'll always be here! How could you think I'd let you stay in this place by yourself?"

"THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEAN AND YOU KNOW IT!"

Sora was standing now, towering over Riku and looking taller then the older teen has ever thought he could be. His bright blue eyes were shining brightly with a fiery rage that was slowly starting to bubble out, seeping off in a dark aura that made the shadowed walls look the bright of whites. Sora's fists were clenched by his sides, nails cutting into the flesh of his palms and leaving crescent shaped indents in his skin. The blood seemed to be glowing and roaring in his body, as his face seemed to be glowing red.

With his next words, Riku felt sure that at least half of the castle would soon be awake.

"JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE HERE WITH ME DOESN'T MEAN I WON'T BE ALONE! PROBLEMS DON'T GO AWAY JUST BECAUSE YOU MAKE THOSE DAMN PROMISES THAT WE **BOTH **KNOW YOU WON'T **EVER **KEEP! THINGS WON'T GET BETTER IF YOU KEEP ALL OF THESE SECRETS FROM ME!"

The lump in Riku's throat was bulging so that now his breathing had become labored, and his eyes were growing impossibly wide. Not just because of Sora's painfully obvious statements.

_I can't... I can't breathe!_

"And you wont' even LOOK! at me!" Sora continued, his rant growing more and more wild with every angry flash his eyes gave off. Riku's eyes had shut now, and were clenched. His fists were even whiter then normal, as he balled his hands, clenching tightly at the bed sheets. "Riku..." His voice was quieting down now as the words he's just raved slowly came back to him, biting at the edged of his heart as he was filled with guilt at yelling at his friend.

_It's all too much... I can't breathe... It's just too much... What's happening?_

_I CAN'T BREATHE!_

"Riku... please look at me, Riku," Sora said softly, voice much more gentle now that he was the shape Riku was in. He looked too distressed for words.

If only he knew just how much.

"I'm sorry," Sora continued, failing to notice how Riku's posture was slowly disintegrating as he slouched down, slowly falling back onto the bed. His whole body was slick with sweat, something Sora couldn't see because of the dark. Silver locks of hair stuck to his face and neck, sprawling out onto the white pillow as he struggled to breathe. The lump had expanded and now filled his whole throat, making it's way to what felt like his heart.

Sora couldn't hear Riku's tiny whimper of distress as he said, "We can... we can work this out, right? We'll do it together."

"S-Sora..."

"Hm?" Sora smiled gently, leaning down and closer to his friend. "What? Gonna tell me I'm a sap, now?"

Riku could no longer see, even as he opened his eyes.

"Riku... you're shaking. Did I really hurt you that much?" His hand drifted downwards and towards his friend's, gently wrapping his fingers around it. "Oh Gods... Riku, you're freezing! Riku! Riku, what's wrong?"

"G-g... ge-get... G-g-gooo..."

"What's happening?" Sora cried out, using his free hand to firmly clamp it over Riku's sweating forehead. "You're so cold!"

"G-go... go get-get..."

"Is this the disease?" Sora cried, near hysteria, his other hand flying to Riku's chest. His fingers splayed over a firm bicep, feeling a quickening heartbeat. It pounded firmly, too firm, under his sweaty palm, even beneath the layer of bandages and pajama top. And then...

It beat once.

A long pause.

"G-go get..."

A faint beat.

Longer pause.

A heartbeat.

"G-get..."

And then...

"Get Aerith..."

...nothing.

"RIKU!"

All of a sudden, the moonlight was blinded as a new light flooded from the ceiling after the quick click of a switch. It illuminated Riku's chalk white face, his green eyes staring, unblinking, past Sora's quivering shoulder and at the ceiling. Sora's fingers quickly searched under his skin, pressing with a bruising force, trying his hardest to find a pulse.

"HELP!" Sora was screaming. "SOMEONE! PLEASE!"

A blur of color, and a blond mop of air was shoved abruptly in his range of vision as a man, clad in nothing but navy blue drawstring pants, hunched over and quickly began to feel at Riku's wrist for a pulse.

Cloud.

"C-can you help him?" Sora choked out, throwing all pride aside as he clutched desperately at his friend's shirt. Tears soaked his cheeks without his noticing it, streaming and drizzling down to the hollow of his neck before dripping onto Riku's unmoving body.

Cloud didn't answer for a moment as he forcefully shoved Sora's hands away. He clenched at the fabric of Riku's shirt and, with a might rip, tore it off, revealing a wiry frame that was covered in ace bandages, not an inch of skin showing.

So absorbed in what the blond was doing, Sora almost missed the words muttered to him in a rush.

But he heard them all the same. And without a moment of hesitation, before another breath could be wasted Sora was flying, literally hopping over the bed and darting towards the door. His hands slammed at the door and, even though the doors weren't designed to open that way, a splinter of wood later and the doors were forcefully ripped from their steel hinged and swinging off, allowing the frantic brunet to escape with those words haunting his conscience.

And he screamed it at the top of his lungs.

_"G-go get... g-get... get Aerith..."_

_"Quick! Find Aerith!"_

"**AAAEERIIIIIITH!**"

_Heads_

Medical books were sprawled open on the oak desk, words blinking up at her in black, diagrams and charts circling with intricate patterns before her unfocused eyes. And as invigorating as the entire history of the human heart was to her, Aerith just couldn't find the energy in her to focus when it was so late at night. If the clock on the wall was correct, then it was one 'o' clock at night.

But she had research to concentrate on. The disease, one she was trying so hard to figure out, had to come from somewhere. And Aerith was trying her hardest to figure out well.

It could very well make the life or death decision for a boy who was presumably sleeping in the infirmary two floors up.

Aerith sighed, shifting in her chair so that she could rest an elbow on the table and sit her cheek in her palm, turning the page idly with her free hand. It was all stuff that she already knew and, quite frankly, it got boring to reread after the twentieth time in one night.

But Aerith was stubborn on the subject. There could be something she misses, perhaps a hint---however small it may be----that could give her the answer she needed.

_Maybe a cup of coffee would help me concentrate?_

The lack of energy coursing through her veins made the decision for her. She gently rested her hands on the edge of the wood and pushed herself back, chair sliding silently against the thin carpeting of their vast library. Yawning and rubbing at her green eyes tiredly, Aerith stood. She stretched her arms high above her head and arched her back, getting the kinks out before rolling her shoulders for good measure.

_Did I just hear a scream?_

The brunette paused.

_I must need that coffee more than I thought._

And with this thought in mind, Aerith walked away from her work table and pushed open the oak doors, letting herself out before turning on her heel and heading left, towards the kitchens.

A hazelnut coffee with just a pinch of sugar and a hint of cream sounded excellent right about now.

And so, ignoring the screams she could have sword she'd heard (and was still hearing), Aerith made her way down the hall, towards the stairs that would lead to the kitchens.

_Tails_

There was a stitch in each of his sides now, and breath was getting harder and harder to find. Sora didn't know how far a person could live without breathing, but he was sure it wasn't very long.

Time was running out.

Doors were snapping open everywhere he went as his hoarse screaming echoed throughout the entire castle. He'd fought off any calls that came after him, ignoring the curious and frightened gazes that were focused upon him.

"AERITH! AERITH!"

His voice was hoarse now, but his words still rang loud and true as the mantra continued to pour from his mouth in bellowing screams.

"AEEERIIIIITH!"

He wouldn't let Riku die!

"**AAAAEEEEEERIIIIIIIIIITH!"**

A blow to the chest finally stopped the screaming boy in his tracks as all air was knocked from his lungs. He could feel his own feet leave the floor and the whole world turned upside down for the briefest of moments as he fell head over heels. He caught the sight of shaggy-haired brunet and a muscular, naked chest before be came crashing down to the ground.

_Ouch._

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" a deadly hiss whispered in his ear, and Sora was all too aware that Leon was now pinning him to the ground with a bruising voice keeping the boy from moving.

"Aerith..." Sora was whispering. His breath came out in quick gasps as he huffed for air. Air that his friend couldn't' even breathe in at the moment. "I need Aerith... Please, let me go!"

"What do you need Aerith for?" Leon asked with an expressionless tone. His cold gray eyes stared unceremoniously into Sora's. And this, more then anything, spurred the teen into a state where strength didn't even matter as he himself heaved the tall man off of him.

"RIKU'S DYING, YOU FUCKING BASTARD!" he roared, his voice cracking somewhere in the middle. But he didn't care. The only person he cared about in the whole damned world was dying and this man was denying him the only glimmer of hope he had left to hold onto. "IF I DON'T FIND AERITH, HE'S GOING TO DIE! NOW **GET THE HELL OUT OF MY WAY!**"

Leon stood, stunned into silence. His mask of indifference had slid off, and his expression told that he'd never been yelled at like that in his life by a person half his size.

And he still wouldn't move.

"I SAID TO GET OUT OF MY DAMN WA---!"

"Sora, what **is **the meaning of this?"

"AERITH!"

Sora didn't think he was ever so relieved in his whole life to see just one person.

The brunette came sweeping down the hallway, a thermos of a steaming liquid clutched tightly in one hand as her green eyes glared disapprovingly at the other two. Sora didn't back down at the look, instead moving forward faster then she was walking. Before he could get a word in edgewise, however, Aerith said, "Sora, what on earth are you doing out of bed?"

The last straw finally snapped.

"I'M HERE BECAUSE I NEED SOME DAMNED HELP!" Sora's throat would surely start to bleed soon with all of the screaming he was doing, but that wasn't too concerning to him at the moment. Struggling to calm his raging temper, Sora let the rest of his words quickly tumble out, no longer in the mood to play stupid games like this. "Riku's stopped breathing!" he explained quickly. "We... we were fighting and he just went all cold, he started to shake and then he stopped breathing! Please, you have to help him!"

Sora expected the nurse to stare in stunned silence, as Leon had done. To question his words, to make sure he spoke the truth.

But she didn't.

"Leon!" she quipped. "Go find Donald and bring him to the infirmary as fast as you can! Tell him to bring his staff, the weakest one he's got. And I don't care if you have to carry him, but I want both of you in the infirmary five minutes ago! Now GO!"

Leon left without another word. His legs flashed beneath him, bare feet slapping against the tiled floors as he took off on a well-memorized path, ripping through the throngs of people gathering by the outskirts of the hall and watching with wide eyes.

Sora blinked. Then he heard that tapping of feet scampering quickly over the floor, and he looked over to where Aerith had been. For a moment, he stood there, simply confused.

And then he turned and saw that Aerith was already racing towards the infirmary, leaving Sora behind without a second thought.

"H-hey!" he stammered, starting after her despite the fact that he was already out of breath. "Wait up!"

It didn't take long for Sora to catch up with the brunette whom, despite her dainty looking appearance, ran as quick as lightning. She flew up the staircase with Sora at her heels, who was running much less gratefully but just as swift. Sounds blurred past them with a quick zip, the pounding of footsteps and the rush of blood the only noise that they could hear. Background noise, consisting of murmurs and creaking doors, was drowned out by the beating of their hearts.

And neither one of them looked back.

_Heads_

By the time Sora and Aerith reached the infirmary, a small crowd of people had gathered by the doorway. Sora literally pushed him and Aerith a path, shoving the solicitors out of the way. Some feel over, crashing into others, making sounds of protest that rebounded off the door as Aerith slammed it shut behind her.

Cloud was where Sora had left him. Riku's shirt lay torn and discarded over the side of the bed, and Cloud had tore off the bandages that were wound tightly around the teen's chest to gain better access to the heart. The blond's left hand has two fingers pressing under Riku's chin to check for pulse as he used his other hand to pry open Riku's mouth, pressing his ear to it to listen and feel for any puff of breath.

Obviously, none were detected. Sora stood awkwardly at the edge of the bed while Aerith hurriedly left for the storage cupboard at the end of the room, watching as Cloud firmly pressed his mouth Riku's and let out a deep gust of air before drawing away and compressing the area under the boy's ribcage a number of times Sora couldn't bother to keep up with. He was too busy grasping at Riku's hand, holding it firmly in his own, as if the simple gesture would bring back the life to those unblinking eyes. Fill in the color that had drained away from him with his last breath.

But Riku couldn't be dead... the hand in his... it was sweating.

"He's sweating," he heard Aerith murmured distractedly as she returned to their side with a black metal box clutched in her shaking hands as she set it down on the bed. "He's still alive."

_"...still alive."_

_'Still' alive?_

_Still?_

Sora bit his bottom lip hard to keep back a sob that threatened to pass his mouth, hard enough so that a metallic taste entered his mouth. His hands were clutching desperately at Riku's cold one now, as if letting go meant Riku'd finally slip away from him for good.

"Sora... you may want to turn away," Aerith was advising him urgently. She flipped open the catch of her heavy-looking box and began to shift through its contents. The sound of metal clashing against metal was heard the more she searched until, finally, she pulled out what looked to be a steak knife. Only instead of a wooden hilt, it had a shiny metal one, and the blade had no ridges on it. It ran around six inches long and ended in a deadly point.

"Wh-what are you going to do?" Sora stuttered, watching as she brought it closer to Riku's heart. Cloud, he now noticed, has stop the chest compressions and was standing back, watching Aerith work carefully to cleanse as much sweat and blood from over Riku's chest as possible. She was bringing the tip to the skin now, and Sora clenched his teeth shut.

If he let out a little whimper when Aerith finally sank the scalpel into Riku's chest, neither adult noticed. Or at least they pretended not to.

"I need to get to the heart," she explained, obviously choosing her words carefully. The shiny blade was dug in a diagonal slash across Riku's chest, sinking in a good two inches. Blood seeped from the wound, bubbling over and staining pale skin into a torrent of crimson. Once she was done with this, she made an identical one in the opposite direction. Sora couldn't help but feel a bit queasy as he watched the nurse make an X-shaped wound over Riku's heart, a deep one that gushed thick, rich red blood.

And he finally looked away as she began to peel away the skin, forming an odd look square hole in the teen's chest, around three inches in all directions. Sora didn't look back around for several more moments, and that was only when he heard faint whisperings in a dialect that he couldn't understand. And when he didn't, he immediately felt the sickness in his stomach start to rise up, the taste of bile filling his mouth as he struggled to swallow against it, forcing himself to watch.

Riku's skin had a red tint to it now, looking a sick sort of pink. Aerith hand was hovering above the wound she'd inflicted on the teen, glowing a deadly looking green. The cut had stopped bleeding, and the blood seemed to be drawing itself back in, the crimson droplets that had managed to escape drying and caking on glowing skin. And then, Aerith's hand was pressed fully against the square puncture, blood oozing up and slipping up the crevices between her fingers.

"What... what are you doing?" Sora squeaked, taking a small step back beside himself, although never letting go of Riku's hand. Aerith, however, was too engrossed in her work to listen to any words spoken to her.

Sora was silent for a few more moments, slowly inching back to his original position. But he was compelled to repeat his question when his best friend began to squirm around on the bed, his lifeless eyes still blank and staring as his body rocked.

It was Cloud who answered him.

"She's pumping Riku's blood for him," Cloud murmured quietly, watching was a hint of curiosity in his eyes at the scene before him. He gently pressed Riku against the bed by his shoulder with apparent ease as the boy started to rise from his bed a little too far. Once Riku was secured safely, the blond continued with, "She can't heal him with magic, so she'll have to jumpstart the heart somehow. For now, she's doing the heart's job herself."

"You mean... Aerith is pumping all of that blood... with just her hand?" At Cloud's nod, Sora stared at the nurse in awe, mouth slightly agape.

"Don't ever under-estimate Aerith," Cloud said quietly, a hint of amusement hidden in his voice despite the situation.

Ignoring the adult's tone, Sora continued to watch in wonder as Riku's chest heaved in a slightly uneven pattern under Aerith's glowing hand, the mouth wide open and sucking in air with deep gasps and letting it out in what sounded like a low whistle. His body was still convulsing just as badly, but Aerith seemed to have found her rhythm and the silver-haired teen had ceased his bucking, simply rocking on the bed instead.

So absorbed in the situation, Sora didn't care to take notice of the arrival of two more people. One was squawking loudly, a large staff in one hand that had a mage's had perched at the end, and was tucked under a tall brunet's arm as he carried the outraged duck to Riku's beside.

If either found anything odd about the boy's condition, they hid the emotion. Leon simply crossed his arms, seemingly unperturbed by the fact that he was standing in a room full of people in nothing but his boxers, and watched as Donald muttered something about being so rudely interrupted about something or another as he rolled up the sleeves of his pinstriped pajama top and batted the poofy end of his nightcap from the front of his face.

Not a word was spoken between the two mages. Donald walked dutifully up to Aerith's side, peering over at the wound on Riku's chest. He watched for a few moments, taking in the shaking of Riku's body and how blood was slowly starting to seep from the cuts that marred white skin.

"All right, Aerith," he muttered quietly, raising his staff. The end of it, which was glowing amber, the aura seeming to seep through the room with a warm glow, over Aerith's hands. "When I count to three, move your hand..."

Aerith didn't bother to nod, not a word passing from her lips. She seemed to be in a trance where no one could reach her, not even if someone screamed at the top of their lungs in her ear.

"One..."

Sora opened his mouth to warn Aerith, but a firm hand clamped down on his forearm and yanked. Out of surprise, Sora dropped Riku's hand. He stumbled backwards and into a firm chest. Looking up angrily, Sora saw eyes that matched his own staring down at him.

"Two..."

Sora looked away, turning his gaze back to his friend who was jerking almost violently on the bed now, his head thrashing back and forth. It seemed that magic couldn't force the heart to work forever.

But then... what was Donald planning on doing?

"THREE!"

It all happened in the span of two seconds. Aerith's hand snapped back as soon as the number was snapped and she darted backwards, away from the bed. Donald brought the tip of his staff down until it was pressing deeply towards Riku's heart and then, with one word, the room exploded in yellow light.

"LIGHTNING!"

Sora shut his eyes against the brightness, grunting as Cloud forced him farther away from the bed. Every hair on his body stood on end, prickling up and towards the mage and his magic. A loud buzzing noise filled the air, sparks flying every which way.

And then...

A loud scream.

_End Chapter_

**I haven't left a cliffhanger in so long, so I just couldn't resist! Hahaha... this story had already gotten pretty long. Riku might have died.**

**Or did he?**

**Heeheehee. That was a lot of fun to write. Hope you all liked it! Please drop me a review!**


	14. Mint Condition

**...is it safe for me to come back?**

**Ummm... I'm back from my break? Eh heh heh?**

**...remember that I love you ALL! T.T**

_Mint Condition_

_Tails_

His legs, so stiff from barely moving for three days in a row, barely withheld his weight. Regardless of this, his steps were purposeful and jaunty, carrying him from a sterilized room, echoed words of when to be back and recited rules wallowing in his wake. Baggy jeans covered his white slipper-clad feet, trailing under his heels, and a baggy t-shirt that was missing its sleeves, black stripes encircling the holes for neck and arms, hanging down past his hips and almost reaching his knees. Unruly hair that was still a bit damp from just recently being washed, smelling faintly of fresh lilies, bounced slightly as he walked, shoulders taught and shifting under that shirt that showed just how skinny he was. Yet he walked with what little pride he'd managed to scrape together from being stuck in the infirmary for three days straight, and blatantly ignored and suspicious whispers that floated to his ears or the cautious glances, even glares, thrown his way as he took a long walk down the hall.

Because Riku had been stuck inside the bed for three days straight, unmoving and unresponsive after the frightening attack that'd occurred three days previous, and Sora was finally sure that his friend was safe enough for the brunet to leave his side for a simple walk around the castle.

That, and he had been about to go crazy if he spent one more hour with frequent visits from unwanted visitors, and the voice of Aerith, who'd been desperately trying to teach him one thing or another after growing tired of seeing him sulking by the bed.

So the brunette had suggested a long walk to clear his mind, something Sora's readily agreed to. Disney Castle intrigued him just as much as it frightened him, and he was ready for a good look at the place.

Beams of noon light washed over his face and glared hard into his eyes, making Sora lift a bandaged hand to shadow over his eyes. His injured hands didn't hurt as much as they did a few nights ago, when Sora'd made the mistake of launching forward when a bolt of lightning descended upon his friend, grasping metal bars that were white hot from the surge of electricity, scorching his palms.

How was Sora supposed to know that it was magic simply restarting Riku's heart? Not his fault at all. Aerith seemed to think it was, though, as she had put salve on it instead of using her magic to heal him, saying it would teach him a lesson.

Teach him a lesson indeed. Teach what? Not to grab at poles brimming with electric shocks during an experience he was only likely to go through once in his life? No thank you.

Sora breathed in the distinct smell of bacon and eggs that seemed to be wafting form the corridor to his left, and figured it must have been late in the morning, for the sun was fully...

"'CAAAUUUUUSE I'M AAAAALL ALOOOONE!"

...was fully risen, and...

"THEEEERE'S NOOOOO ONE HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERE BEEEEESIDE MEEEEE!"

...who'd let a banshee into the castle?

Sora blinked, and then winced as the horribly off-key singing grew louder and louder, floating down from the hallway to his left. Wait, was that singing? Sounded like someone with a frog in their throat was dying.

And yet people passed by conventionally, paying no heed to the horrible screeching, as if this were a modern day occurrence.

"MY TROUUUUUBLES HAAAVE ALL... **GOOOOONE**!**"**

That was the last straw.

Gritting his teeth and fiercely plugging his hands over his ears to some what muffle the screams, Sora set off at a brisk pace, walking in a slightly awkward manner, seeing as his arms were raised with his palms cupping his ears. Dappled sunlight traced along his path as he hurriedly rushed up the hall, determined to put an end to the ruthless screeching besieging his poor ears.

It didn't take him long, but in those few moments the screaming had gotten even louder and the crowds of people had inconspicuously fled the area, determined to keep what was left of their sense of hearing. He was faced with a wooden door that was ridden with deep scratches, one with a shiny Japanese throwing star lodged within the thick crevice of splintered oak. The door was slightly ajar, and what flowed from it had to be the most awful, out-of-key singing Sora had ever heard in his entire life.

He should know. He heard himself sing.

"THERE IIIIIS NO OOOOONE TOOOOO DERIIIIIIIIIIIIDE ME-**EEEEEE!**"

And then, gritting his teeth, Sora quickly snatched at the doorknob with his left hand and leaving his ear wide open to assault...

...only to have the object of the racket barrel right into him.

"BUT YAAAAA GOOOOOTTA HAAAAVE FRIIIIIEEE---WHOA!"

And in one mass of flailing limbs and several cries on surprise, ninja and thief fell squirming to the floor in a splay of color.

The servants breathed a collective sigh of relief as the singing stopped.

Sora, however, just groaned and heard a matching noise tremble into his ear. Peaking one eye open, he was met with an unkempt mass of raven locks that was pushed against his cheek, mutters of revenge following a few feeble attempts to untangle two bodies, and Sora soon started to mimic her actions.

Neither one of them got very far.

"Grrr..." Huffing, the black-haired ninja pulled back just enough to look Sora in the eyes as she said, "What were you doing running into me like that, huh?" Shaking her head before she could hear a reply, Yuffie simply said, "Probably trying to sneak a fast one on me, eh? Well, no one can steal from the Great Ninja Yuffie! I don't get why you even tried!"

"I'm not trying to steal from you!" Sora retorted angrily, wriggling a bit from under her weight as he tried to free himself. It was then that he realized one of her knees was digging into his hip and pinning him to the floor, and he watched as she easily slid out from underneath him to switch their positions until she had him firmly trapped on the floor. "Hey, what's the big idea? Let me go!" He twisted in her grip, but she kept her gloved hands firmly on his bony shoulders.

"Geez, you're a pretty tricky one, but not very strong," Yuffie mused. "Anyone ever tell you that you're a stick?"

"Yeah, Riku, now let me up!"

"Oh, Riku! How's the guy doing?"

"Fine, Aerith said he'll be awake soon. So let me up!"

"No way, ya little thief. This is payback for what happened in the market!"

And with that, she released her hold on him for a brief moment and let her hands slide down until they were at his sides, and she started to tickle him mercilessly as he writhed below her, voicing out his protests between giggles.

"H-hey-haha! C-c-c-haha-cut it ou-out! Haha!"

"No way! Teeheehee."

"Ugh... no one needs to see you two practicing PDAs in the middle of the damn hallway." A pause. "And let him up, Yuffie. Those are my clothes he's getting dirty."

"PDA?" Yuffie was off of him in the blink of an eye. "Ew, no way, Cloud! The kid's too young for me!" With a casual wink to the brunet boy, who was now struggling to get to his feet, using his burnt hands to push himself up and wincing as he did so, she said, "Now Riku..."

"Riku's not much older then I am!" Sora exclaimed indignantly. "And what the heck is 'PDA'?"

"...Welp, what do ya know? It's time for the Great Ninja's breakfast! I'll leave you to explain this one, Cloudy-boy!"

"What? Hey, wait---"

But before the blond could get another word in, Yuffie had swept away, kicking her door shut with one foot and running her hands through her hair to get it in some sort of order as she rushed down the hall and towards the wafting smell of baking breakfast, laughing merrily as she did so until her voice died away amidst the chatter of passerby.

And clouded by a thick, heavy tension that hung between both boys, one sitting on the ground and the other staring indifferently down at him.

"So... what's PDA?"

And that was when Cloud decided to turn around and leave.

"Hey, don't leave me here alone!"

Too bad things didn't go as planned for the man.

With a heavy sigh, Cloud kept up his brisk pace, but allowed the young brunet to catch up with him. Harsh breathing from below alerted him that Sora was right behind him now, and he didn't bother to turn and acknowledge his presence as they both walked the opposite direction Yuffie had gone.

"You're not gonna tell me, are you?"

"No."

"Grr... fine, I'll ask Riku later."

"You have fun doing that." Step, step, step. "How long do you plan on following me?"

"Um... how long until you finally hit me?"

"Not too far off."

"...I'll be going now."

"You go do that."

And he did.

_Heads_

The pressure of heavy stares weighed him down wherever he walked, the background noise buzzing with accusing whispers and nervous mutterings, hands flying up to cover mouths as whispers were told into another's ear, eyes all following every move he made down the plush red carpeting of the grand hall.

Windows stared blankly at him as he walked by, teasing him by giving glimpses of the outdoors where he could no longer go, due to strict orders that he'd be forced to follow until he and Riku found a way out. Which would be soon, hopefully, the brunet mused dispassionately.

Small halls branched off from the main one, and Sora waited until he spotted one that had no people pouring from its hall to turn, leading himself from the main hall in choice of a sanctuary of quiet. The small teenager normally preferred chaos to silence any day, but today, he just wanted to shelter himself away from the accusing glares befalling his conscious.

This wasn't until the very end of the main hall, where it twisted at a diagonal to more noise and crowds. But to the right was a small path, darker then the rest of the castle Sora'd explored. He looked past the dark oak threshold and through the crack in the door to see a large expanse of only God knows what. But he knew one thing he didn't see: People.

Without another thought, Sora pressed his palms against the door and pushed. It was stiff on its hinges, but slowly creaked open with a bit of effort, emitting the boy into its quiet depths. Slowly, Sora stepped inside, pausing for a moment and awaiting angry shouts, forbidding words to hold him back. But when none came, Sora opened eyes he didn't even know he'd shut and fully stepped into the room, slowly spinning on the spot to close the door behind him. It jammed slightly, making him turn around and use his back to push it shut.

_Click!_

That did _not _sound good.

With a deep breath of air, Sora grappled behind him, searching for the door knob. When he finally felt the steel bulb in his hand, he grasped at it and gave a desperate twist.

It didn't budge.

"Shit," Sora muttered, eyebrows furrowing. Sighing, he just shook it off. If he couldn't get out that way, all he could do was head forwards, right? And he'd wanted to be alone... he just didn't want to face the consequences if this was a forbidden area.

Seeing no way out of it now, Sora began to wonder down the narrow hall that had gone almost completely black, for no windows lined the walls. The floor was hard, but he could no longer see the color. The air was fresh and clean smelling, cooler then in the rest of the castle. Maybe it led to a terrace.

Sora took a few more steps forward. The color of the ground... seemed almost red. It faintly glowed with the crimson aura, making Sora stop for a moment. Actually... his white shirt seemed to have been tinged as well, and it looked almost pink.

He took a few more steps. Now blue.

He kept on walking. Now colors were slowly gliding by, and he watched, fascinated, as it changed from blue to green, green to yellow, yellow to purple...

The colors were richer now, shining more boldly on his skin and clothing, staining the floor with unfiltered light and besieging Sora in a rampant swirl of rainbow. They sped up as Sora's pace increased, steps falling quicker as Sora fought his way through the colors to find out their source. It all seemed to be rebounding from something up ahead, as he could see spots of multiple lights freckling the floor up ahead.

There was another threshold now, the wood spanning half the width of the first, but twice as tall. Instead of wood, it was framed by white marble, intricate designs of web-like ropes intertwining to form a thick border that spread itself in a high arch, staring calmly down at Sora. He placed one bandaged hand on the side of the door, helping himself through the narrow entryway.

And into a dream.

Multi-colored lights dripped from every nook and cranny of the large, wide hallway, the whole place encased completely in stained glass. Sheets of tangible color spread up from the floors before curling up and high over his head, shining down and looking as if it would collapse if Sora simple blew on it. Sunlight shown through the panes of glass, causing droplets of color to ooze through the air and stain everything in its path in a glorious light, making the atmosphere feel light and airy, and if the walls themselves were breathing in fresh gusts of air. Not a flicker of dust lined the edges of the white marble floors that were currently as versatile as the glass shelter covering it. A large expanse of hallway met Sora's eyes, stretching out as far as he could see and ending in a dot of pure white light, tiny string of what looks liked blues, red, and purples sprouting up from the bulb of light.

Thick cords of white stone twisted up into pillars that held together the large panes of speckled glass, white rose vines clutching to them and fusing into a thorny twister of sorts. The archways split up from the floor at ten yard intervals, and Sora made a rough estimate of around thirty-five or forty of them that he could see before they died down, ending in the light.

The source of all that wonderful, rejuvenating air.

Before he could tell what he was doing, Sora was walking forward, loud echoes of his footsteps befalling his ears in the thick silence. The light seemed to stretch towards him, beckoning with imaginary fingers, taking his hand and guiding him into its blissful embrace. All his eyes were filled with was that light that sparkled in a thousand different patterns with the same shine, colors and shades combining into a thick smear of pure white.

_And I thought all colors combined would be black, _Sora thought dully, thoughts ebbing away into a numb mind where nothing existed but that one tunnel. _Who knew... it would make white?_

_Create light?_

Soft chirps blended into the quickening beat of two feet against white stone, drumming along faster and faster until the chorus reached a new pitch.

_(Drumming, drumming)_

_I'm almost there, _Sora thought desperately.

_(Beating, beating)_

_I just want to touch it... just this once..._

_(Racing, racing)_

He stretched out a fingertip. All pastels faded away into those of white and silver, left behind until the last hues of purple and green dwindled away from his sight, replaced by a glowing warmth as thick as water.

_(Drowning, drowning)_

Drowning in the light.

_(But don't be afraid...)_

He couldn't move, couldn't breathe. All he could feel was himself, and he seemed to drift along the last few steps, as light as a feather.

_(...for you hold the greatest weapon of all)_

The world exploded in a rush of silver and white, clouding his vision, streaming along his face like a million different feathers. Wings beat against his skin, small gusts of air cascading everywhere around him. Shrill cries rang out through the air, tiny screams combining to drown out Sora's own as he felt it all tumble into him at once.

_(But don't be afraid...)_

Gold was the first color he saw, raining from the ground and pouring into the sky. Green rolled at his feet, spreading, dotted with tiny speckles of pinks, blues, greens, all colors materializing from behind him, flowing through the door he'd burst through. Next followed more color, quaking beneath him and cracking into broad, flat panes of glass that made up the ground. Thick white boas came spitting up from the ground, hissing forlornly at the bright sky up ahead before stilling in its light, freezing up and joining at the stop for a sturdy banister.

_(...don't ever be afraid...)_

A veil of doves lifted from his head, and Sora could only watch as the birds flew in a twister of wings and feathers before spreading out into the horizon, leaving behind only feathers in their wake, some catching in gleaming cream talons and others floating down to tickle Sora's nose. Silently, all remains of white feathers, streaked with a shining silver, pooled at his feet, unmoving, quietly watching with Sora as the birds flew out of sight.

_(...you are the one will close the doors)_

"Sora?"

The golden light above flickered once before sparking, patches of the gold falling to rain down upon the canopy of green, killing the grass until a spindle of brown twisted through the middle, a path forming and pitching off into two different directions. The rest of the golden sky fell, replaced by a blazing blue and punctured by the sun, and killed the plants until they withered and died, green grass sharply replacing them.

Sora blinked, and all color was gone, falling from under his face and giving way to brown and gray flagstone. The feathers melted and dripped into the white banister, which had turned a stark black, and was now grew in thin ribbons to form a spindly railway that surrounded the balcony.

"Sora? You okay there, fella?"

Sora blinked again, and something else came into the picture. A three-foot something wide large ears, staring worriedly up at him from behind a round nose.

King Mickey.

"Umm... what was that?"

"I asked if you were okay..."

"Oh, um, yeah. I'm fine." Sora rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, even managing a small smile, a mere shadow of what he could usually get out of himself. _I must have really been out of it... _Sora thought, letting his small grin fade away into a contemplative frown. "What... what happened..." he murmured absent-mindedly, unaware of the cautious look King Mickey was giving him. "What was that place... So bizarre..."

"Ummm... what place are you talkin' about?"

His face rapidly took on a dark red as he realized he'd said those things aloud. "N-nothing," Sora stammered as his mind raced for a way to change the subject. "So, um, wh-what are you doing here?"

Picking up the hint that Sora wasn't going to answer, Mickey replied, "Oh, I come here a lot. It's nice and quiet." King Mickey smiled up at Sora, one hand curled and resting on his hip and the other gesturing around the balcony that must have been twice as large as the old storage room Sora and Riku used to occupy. "This is my own private balcony; no one's ever come here before besides me."

"Oh!" Startled, Sora stumbled backwards, raising his hands in an apologetic manner. "I'm sorry! I didn't know this place was off limits! I just was the door was open and everywhere else was so crowded and I just wanted to---"

"Get away from it all?" Mickey finished for him with a reassuring nod at Sora's own nervous one. "Well, I don't blame ya. Things can get pretty hectic in the castle, huh?"

Sora, not wanting to point out that the reason he'd been searching for a quiet place was because everyone kept on watching him like they expected him to set something on fire at any second, just nodded again.

"Well, I don't mind if you come up here!" He laughed. "It gets kind of lonely here without any company, actually. I'm glad you're here!"

Not knowing what to say, Sora just murmured a, "Me too," only to find that King Mickey had only turned around. "Well, I have to get back. I only came here to get something I left here yesterday. See ya around, pal!"

Sora was about to return with a good-bye of his own when a thought suddenly struck him. "Erm, Your Majesty..."

Turning back, the king fixed Sora with his beady eyes once more. "Hm?"

"I... I've been wandering about this for a while..." Sora admitted slowly, causing a puzzled look to fall over Mickey's face. "That night... that night a few days ago when I first came into the castle... something really weird happened..."

"O-oh?"

Sora hadn't even realized he'd shut his eyes in remembrance of that peculiar feeling he'd experienced almost a week ago until he heard the king fumble over his words slightly, and he re-opened them. "Erm, yeah. I got this really strange feeling..."

"Strange, eh?" Was he stalling?

"Er, yeah, strange..." Sora said carefully, keeping a careful eye on the king;s nervous features. "Like... some part of me got all funny and just... came out."

"Oh, um, interesting..."

"Yeah." Now with a key frown on his face, sense of suspicion growing, Sora said, "And the next thing you know, I had this... giant _key _in my hand."

"Wow, I'd sure like to see that!" Mickey's laugh was a bit too loud, his words spoken a bit too quickly, to pose as plausible. "So do you have it on you?"

"Um, no," Sora murmured. "It disappeared... I can't remember when, but the whole time it was out I felt like something inside of me was missing, and when I realized it wasn't there again..."

"You felt whole?"

"Yeah!" Sora exclaimed excitedly. "So you _do _know what I'm talking about!"

"Ooooh!" King Mickey groaned, burying his face in his hands. "I shouldn't have said that, Sora! Just forget it..."

"No way!" He took a few steps forward when the king turned back around so as to face him, and he leant down a bit with his hands on his knees to maintain balance when he said, "You must know something about that magic key!"

"Gosh, Sora, I---"

"It _is _magical, isn't it?" Too pumped up to stop anytime soon, his expression growing more excited looking as Mickey's filled with regret. "And what about this place? Is it full of magic too?"

"This place?" Now King Mickey truly didn't look confused. "I know about the key, but... Sora, this is just a regular balcony. It can give you the shivers once in a while, but that's about as magical as it gets."

Feeling the excitement slowly drain out of him, Sora tried a last ditch attempt at weaseling the truth of the matter that was already staring him straight in the face. "But the stained glass... and the light... and the birds..."

"What stained glass?" King Mickey asked curiously, looking around for any trace of color in the stone. Finding none, he turned back to the boy. "Nothing here, Sora."

An idea suddenly striking him, the brunet turned around to face the large white threshold, which had somehow turned back to a regular polished oak. Inside, his eyes desperately strained for any sign of tinted glass. But all he found was high, stony gray walls, a few windows dotting it's rough surface.

"But... but... it was all here a minute ago..." Sora murmured in awe, gently touching the wall as it to make sure the dark wood wasn't really paint that covered white marble. "I swear it was..."

"I believe you, Sora," King Mickey said softly from behind him, frowning and ears drooping a bit. "Lots of crazy things happen here... but don't let go of realty." He reached up and gently touched Sora's elbow, for it was the only thing he could reach. "You can't ever stay with things that aren't really there..."

"But it was..." Sora cut himself off with a sigh, knowing that the case was already lost and there was no point in arguing it any further. "What about the key?" he asked numbly, his heart no longer in the question. "I know I didn't make up that."

Heart sinking at the fact that, once again, he'd be the bearer of bad news, King Mickey muttered a quick, "Sorry, Sora, but I can't tell you about that."

"Why?"

The monotonous voice was what made Mickey feel the guiltiest of all. "I... I made a promise to someone that I wouldn't tell you..."

Sora didn't bother to stay and hear the rest of his king's sentence. Gently brushing the gloved hand away from his shoulder, Sora made the surprisingly short walk back to the door, that had been opened by the king on his way in, down a stony gray hallway that was devoid of white walls, shimmering feathers, or colorful air.

_Tails_

Somebody was poking his head.

He didn't like it much when someone was poking his head.

Especially when he was trying to sleep.

Maybe he should tell him to stop?

"Sora, stop poking my head."

Silence. No movements made. For a single, glorious moment, Riku thought Sora had finally gone back to bed.

Poke.

Or not.

"I swear to God, Sora, if you don't stop..."

"You'll what?"

"I'll unleash the wrath of Hell upon your face."

That got Sora to stop poking him. Unfortunately it didn't make the lively brunet shut up, too. "It's payback for you not telling me that you were awake."

"What was I supposed to do?" Riku grumbled, burying his face further into his pillow. It must have been close to midnight, and his best friend had kept up the non-stop chatter since he'd come back to the infirmary around four in the evening. Since then RIku had suffered through at least three recountings of the wild tale Sora claimed to be true, involving wild stained glass, silver birds, pure white granite, and a blinding light. Along with a mysterious voice that Sora swore he'd heard before.

"You should have told me you were awake!" Sora snapped for the twelfth time that day. "Damnit, I was worried sick about you, Riku! You've been out of it for _three days_!"

"Exactly," Riku yawned, scratching idly at an ace bandage entwining his left wrist. "And you've been here. By my side. For three days. You needed to get up and walk around instead of staying in here with me."

"Well... well, you still should have told me," Sora pouted as he slowly trudged back to his own bed. Riku heard the sigh of the springs in the mattress as the brunet finally settled beneath the covers before turning on his side to face the older teen. "So... why do you think King Mickey wouldn't tell me about the key? He said something about making a promise to someone..."

"Who cares? No one knows what's going through that damn rat's mind," Riku muttered, irritated that Sora wouldn't let him sleep. "And I don't even know what you're talking about; I don't remember you having any huge key, or any other key for that matter..."

"Well, I had it!" Sora huffed stubbornly. "You must have gotten some head injury if you don't remember, Riku. It was huge! With..."

But Riku cut him off before he could rant on about the 'mysterious' weapon he'd obtained. "You're right, Sora. Maybe I do have a head injury. And to cure it, I say I get some sleep."

"Oh come on, Riku! I wanna talk some more, and I'm wide awake!"

"Liar," Riku chuckled. "Just close your eyes, roll over, and get some sleep."

"No!" Pout returning in full force, Sora quipped, "I'm not tired!"

"I bet you are," Riku retorted, a scheme already forming in his mind. Smirking, Riku suggested slyly, "How about we have a little contest, hm? To pass the time."

The competitive side getting the better of the younger boy, just as Riku knew it would, Sora eagerly sat up in bed to fix his friend with wide cerulean eyes. "Really? Okay!"

Riku smirked; it was just too easy. He could hear the fatigue weighing down Sora's words, and since his young friend was already fairly simple-minded, it should be a piece of cake. "Okay; to prove you're not tired, we'll do this. Whoever takes the longest time to fall asleep wins." Riku's smirk widened, and he fought to keep the smugness out of his voice lest Sora catch on. "Since you're so 'wide awake', you can go first."

"Fine!" Sora said competitively, slamming his head on the pillow.

Riku snorted. "Think you're so good at this, eh, Sora?"

"Yeah! I bet I can even do it with my eyes closed!"

"Oh yeah, you're on!"

"Fine! Heehee..."

Two seconds later, Sora's eyes were shut tightly.

Two minutes later, and the sounds of his snoring filled the air.

Chuckling, Riku finally allowed himself to settle back on the bed. He lazily searched for the edges of his comforter and pulled them up under his chin, listening to the cool linen brush against his skin. The air was quiet and had the distinct smell of night; clean and cool, not smoke or cooking food to taint it, and felt good as it gusted through the open window and gently stroked his exposed face. It blew over his bangs, causing them to hover over his face, tickling him slightly.

He felt utterly content.

Or at least he should have. But something still was nagging him.

A visit... a visit he'd gotten earlier.

_"Well, hope ya feel better soon, Riku! I gotta go talk to Sora about somethin'!"_

Sighing, Riku tossed the blankets a bit so he could roll over. Medicine had drowned out most of the pain, but his body ached when he tried to shift it. Ignoring the throb, Riku rested his cheek on the cooled pillow and closed his eyes.

_"About what? The Keyblade?"_

_"Yea---Hey! How do you know about the Keyblade?"_

Gritting his teeth in frustration, Riku curled his fingers into a fist and lightly pounded on the bed once before using it to hit his pillow, lifting his head briefly to fluff it up before lying back down. Taking in a deep gulp of air, he let it out in one long, shaky breath, trying to calm himself.

_"That doesn't matter right now..."_

_"But---!"_

_"Please, just listen to me!"_

Riku unclenched his eyes, relaxing his tightened muscles, just letting the memories fall back into place before this eyes. He couldn't fight them off anymore.

A small whimper behind him alerted his senses, snapping him out of his dream. Frowning slightly, Riku rolled over towards his friends. in the pale sliver of moonlight that shown through the window, he could just make out the features of his friends face and a thin sliver of russet hair.

"What... is that?" Riku murmured, narrowing his eyes. Sora had gone back to sleep after twisting a bit in the covers, and now Riku could see something silver poking out of his head.

"_Okay, Riku... I'm listening."_

Quietly, slowly, Riku untangled himself from the twist of covers trapping his legs. He swung his legs over the side of his bed and winced as the pads of his bare feet met icy cold ground. Shivering in the cool night air slightly, Riku gently padded over to his best friend.

Reaching out a hand slowly, he dragged it through tresses of cinnamon locks until they met the offending object. It was soft to the touch, and Riku gently plucked it out so it lay in his palm. Stepping back, Riku moved his hand until it lay in what little light he had to go by.

_"Remember how I made that promise to you?"_

****"The Hell... What kind of bird did this come from?"

In his hand lay a single feather. Riku could have sworn it belonged to a white done, the kind that used to build nests in the rafters of their make-shift home during the spring time, but the color was uniquely different. It looked...

"Silver," Riku whispered. Small segments of Sora's long-winded tail of magical hallways rushed back to him, and he tried to shake it off as best as he could. No, it was ridiculous! But then... where did Sora get a _silver _feather stuck in his hair?

_"Yeah, 'course I do!"_

"I'll ask Sora in the morning," Riku decided. But if he let go of his pride for a brief moment, he'd realize that leaving the feather on a table during a windy night was not a good idea, and that there was no way he would remember it in the morning.

Yawning widely, Riku set it next to his empty glass on the bedside table and crawled back underneath the sheets, finally ready for a long nap.

He didn't notice as the wind picked up, stretching his fingers in and twirling the feather around, grasping it, gently blowing it through the air. It drifted through the river of moonlight, rippling through until it joined the ocean of air outside and was blown away towards dusk.

"_Well now, I need you to promise **me **something, Mickey..."_

_(You are the one who will open the doors)_

_End_

**Okay, who the Hell let in the plot?**

**Riku: Sora! He forgot to keep watch!**

**Sora: LIES!**

**Damn, and I had the thing all locked up and everything! **

**Sora: (pats)**

**That's it, I'm getting the giant fly swatter...**

**Fly Swatter: im going 2 smash tihs plot that your putting into here!11**

**...Okay, maybe I'm not THAT desperate.**

**But the readers can help! By REVIEWING! Please?**


	15. Lucky Coin

_Lucky Coin_

_Heads_

_**The seconds crawled over scattered minutes upon hours, growing and spreading like a virus that stretched into days which crumbled into weeks, eventually blooming into months.**_

_'There's really no words to describe it… except, perhaps, 'sickeningly ironic'…'_

"Ugh! This isn't food! It's _child abuse_!"

Aerith cast him a reproachful glance over her shoulder as her hands busied themselves with pouring multi-sized tablets into different bottles. "They're called vegetables, Sora, and you need to eat all of them. Heavens know you never had any on the streets."

Blue eyes narrowing and a quick huff later, the brunet shot back, "But Riku didn't eat his!"

A hiss. "Sora, shut up!"

She raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Then what did he do with them?"

"Dumped them out the window while you were in the bathroom."

"_RIKU!_"

"DAMNIT, SORA!"

**_Time stitched over the wounds and left behind bright pink scars that still ache when the light was overcast by heavy clouds and uncontrollable rain washes over their faces, which still hold frozen smiles and illuminated eyes._**

_'Why does my hope finally find roots in here? In a place like this? I'm worried. What will happen when trouble barrels through, and I can't get out of the way in time? Or pull back what still matters?'_

"Sora, why don't you go back to your room?"

The night was aglow with the moon's bright face, a light much more beautiful than any they could encounter during the day. The stars sang a steady chorus of cricket chirps and low whistles of the scattered winds, drumming on the curtains and forming a steady beat.

"I like it in here better."

"Hm. Do you?"

"Yeah. But I think you'll like our room much better then in here."

Riku laughed. "Let's see. Service in the castle versus staying in this bed. It's a tough decision."

"Well, a month's a long time to be stuck in hospital. Not going stir-crazy on me, are you?"

"Have I hit you yet?"

"No…"

"Then maybe I _am _crazy."

"Nah, you're no---HEY!"

"Ha ha…"

**_The pages flipped by ever more slowly, despite the howling wind, as fat droplets of rain stained the words and caused the ink to bleed onto the spine, into the cracking earth, ruining the ending of their story and leaving it open like a gaping wound._**

_'Maybe it's not so much the unfamiliar comfort that's scaring me, though. Maybe it's the rift. That deep, terrifying rift.'_

"Well, what did Aerith say?"

Riku's back cracked and he grimaced pleasantly at the relief it brought to his stiff body. A large bundle of used and wrinkled, yet clean, bandages curled and spilled over the nightstand where they were thrown to reveal pale skin that was still stretched thinly over a stack of ribs. His gained weight wasn't enough in Aerith's opinion, and he had to agree. The 119 on the scale wasn't all too impressive. His hair, once flowing down his back, was clipped to his shoulders, as the ends were singed by the flames almost two months, several broken bones, burn marks, and many gashes ago. Square bandages still stuck at random spots, covering stitched up spots that had refused to heal in such a short time. His chest still hurt when he breathed to heavily, but he found that when his nerves weren't standing on end, it wasn't too bad.

Bearable.

"She'll let me go in a week or two." Riku snorted. "She's like a mother; fussy and whiny."

"Bah, she's nice and you know it." Sora was grinning, leaning back on his palms with his legs dangling off of Riku's bed, his toes skimming over the tiled floors as he watched Riku stretch for the first time in a long time. He could see Riku's winces when he twisted in the wrong was and stretched a sore spot. There were cut-off sweatpants hanging around his thin waist, but nothing else but a damp towel draped around his neck and over his shoulders.

And then he looked over his shoulders after a quick bend to touch fingers to toes, shooting Sora a curious look. "Sora… you _like_ these people?"

"Well, yeah," he said, cocking his head to the side with a small frown. "Why? Don't you?"

"Nope." He turned back around and, after taking a quick swipe at his sweaty forehead with the damp cloth, twisted his waist and slung his arms around in a twist. But Sora, more than anyone else, knew of Riku's complete lack of skill in changing the subject.

Sora couldn't do it properly either, but he digressed.

"Why not?" he repeated firmly.

"Stubborn," Riku muttered.

Sora ignored the last comment. "Why?"

He sighed, contorting his torso to swing the other way. He hung there for a few minutes, staring hard at the bedside table. It was littered with empty paper cups and a copy of the town newspaper where, several weeks ago, the headline, "TOWN THIEVES CAUGHT AT LAST" had flashed black and bold with criticizing words concerning the boys spewed over the page and continuing onto the next with several choice words from the palace guards, thrown in more than anyone would have liked.

**TOWN THIEVES CAUGHT AT LAST**

It hung in his head and badgered him constantly like an itch he just couldn't scratch. His next few words tumbled out like poison he just couldn't wait to get rid of.

"Because we're the thieves, they're the prison guards, and they're keeping us in this place to finish our sentence. They won't show pity to us; don't show it to them."

But no one said that poisoned words couldn't leave a bad taste in one's mouth.

**_Flashing, flashing, like thunder, watching their luck flip back and forth in the winds of a hurricane._**

_'I can feel it cracking open a bit more every day. I need to jump over to his side before it's too late. But Hell, how can I with my roots still deep in the earth? With my hope the it'll be bridged over some day.'_

"Are you ready?"

An unsure shrug. An uncommon frown on a plump face.

"C'mon, Sora. This isn't like you. I thought you're strong than this?"

The frown formed into a tiny glare which collided with the cool gaze of aqua-marine eyes. "What does strength have to do with this?"

A shrug of his own. "Pretty much everything. We can't afford to break down in the middle of this. In two more years, Sora, we'll be free from this place!" A mere flicker of his cocky grin spread over his face, a tiny upward tilt of his lips being all that he could manage until he turned around and threw his medicine bottles, all half way empty, into a small tote bag. It was already stuffed with sleepwear, a toothbrush, some socks and a few more simple clothing items. All had been provided for him during his two-month stay at the infirmary.

"It's going to be great," Riku was saying. "We'll get out of this town! Go somewhere we can start all-over again."

"Start over?" Sora echoed slowly, tasting the words on his lips and cringing at the bitter taste of false hope that ruined them completely. "Isn't starting over, ya know, kinda like cheating?"

"Cheating? Nah." Riku still wasn't facing him. He occupied himself with double-check for everything, and then fishing under the bedside table for his scandals. "We didn't really get a fair start on the first shot, so…" He let sentence dwindle off without a finish. He didn't know how to finish it.

Sora didn't know how to reply. Riku ignored his friend's platonic silence.

He slung his bag over his shoulder after giving the zipper a good tug, and then slipped his bare feet into his scandals.

"Well, then, let's go see this room they're locking us up in."

Sora smiled weakly. With more strength then he felt he had, he said "Yeah, sure!"

_We don't need to start over…_

_**Watching it flip in the air and begin towards the back of the book, two sides of a coin glimmering in the lightning with the ending tapering behind it.**_

_'I'll just have to wait then, won't I? Starting over with a new life? Don't think we need to._

_'We'll see which side our lucky coin lands on.'_

_Tails_

"All right, now, what the HELL is this?"

Sora burst into such a loud uproar of laughter that Riku almost feel some concern for his friend.

Almost. Almost feel some concern.

"Go on, Riku!" Sora yelped out between giggles as he clutched at his sides, trying to regain his breath. "Try it on! I wanna see how it looks on you." Riku hesitantly held it up to himself, and that caused another round of laughter.

A silver eyebrow twitched ever-so-slightly. He shot a disdainful look at the offending object he had held up to his chest before scoffing and chucking it down with the rest on his neatly-made bed.

From a quick glance it was just a basic set of clothing lying so innocently on the rich red comforter. But upon closer inspection by the two, they found something _much _different.

The pants and shoes were fine. The shoes were a simple black with rounded laces, rubber soles, and made of a soft, leathery material. The pants were black suede with two pockets in the front, two in the back, and loopholes for the simple black belt.

****It was the rest that got them. The white, button-down t-shirt with a crisp collar, matching cuff-linked sleeves, had a left breast pocket. On said pocket was a small black decal that could be mistaken as a dot from far away but was, in fact, three circles forming you-know-what.

****A mouse head.

****A fucking _mouse!_

And the tie, bright red, had a matching insignia printed on the tipped bottom.

And to top it all off, a red shoulder strap with a yellow trim and two metallic buttons to clip it together . It was a way of showing their status, they knew, as servants, compared to other palace staff such as guards (who had their own special set), chefs, advisors and the whole what-not.

That had an even _bigger_ mouse head on it.

Well, Hell.

"Oh shut up!" Riku snapped, cheeks tinged with a pink glow. Sora's laughter, which had started to die down, now came back with a vengeance.

Riku smirked. "Let's see you try it on, Sora," he sneered.

That shut him up quite nicely.

Sighing with relief and a tinge of wariness, Riku sunk low on the bed. He fingered the tie, then picked it up to hold to the afternoon light which glowed through the four-paned window. "This material is… interesting."

"Interesting?" Sora, too, held his up and examined it closely with squinty eyes. "I don't see anything too special about it."

It worried the brunet slightly that Riku's smirk was back.

"This is silk."

"Erm… yay? Riku, are you sure you're feeling all right? I know you were in that infirmary for a while, but…"

Riku just shook his head. He straightened up and lay the tie across his lap, twisting his legs carefully onto the bed; his body still felt pretty stiff, and it made him wince when he moved too fast. He reached over and pulled the drawer of a lamp table open to reveal a couple odds and ends. A pair of dull-tipped scissors (Riku snorted; Sora looked more worried than ever), a roll of tape, a pencil or two, a tablet of paper, and…

Riku chuckled. He plucked up the desired object from beneath the a tangle of rubber bands and held his hand up, twirling it around for Sora to see.

Sora gulped. "Riku, we shouldn't…"

Riku grinned. "Your point?"

The brunet saw no way out of this one. And then, slowly, Sora found a smile of his own. "Fine. Just let me do my own."

_Heads_

A new day shown brightly. The sun was waking up slow today, slower then the town's residents who were up at the break of dawn and carting off barrels of fruit and hay admist the sweet smell of cider and freshly clipped straw. When the sun did rise, it was warm and the town bloomed into clouds of noise that hung everywhere you walked. Light glittered off flagstones that ran up a walkway to the castle, which shone like ice.

Inside, things moved more slowly but heated up quickly by the time the birds began to sing. You could practically taste the eggs and bacon, the freshly roasted coffee and cinnamon buns, from the scent wafting up from the cafeteria where row after row of table sat hundreds of the castle inhabitants. Some young and some old, none under the age of eighteen at the moment.

It makes one wonder where Riku and Sora were, doesn't it?

Why, they were strutting off in their new uniforms, of course.

They came strolling down the main hallway, grinning broadly at shocked faces and beaming when they got the occasional smile or chuckle. Their shiny shoes _slip-clopped _as they carried them to a destination even they didn't know of.

They just wanted to show off.

It was when they met a group of people (and animals) outside the large doorway to the entrance hall that they finally stopped.

The piece of toast Cloud had in his mouth fell right out.

Yuffie's glass of chocolate milk slipped from her hand and shattered on the floor.

Aerith's mouth fell slightly agape.

Leon stood there, back rested on the wall with his arms crossed over his chest, lightly smirking. Were his eyes sparkling a bit with pride?

Goofy guffawed.

Donald was slowly listing off a number of obscenities that won't be listed here so as to protect the ears of small children.

Riku smirked. Sora beamed.

"Well, this is different," Cloud muttered.

Both had taken a black permanent marker to their uniforms. The mouse insignias were completely covered in ink. Riku had his in the shape of a messy skull on the armband, a simple scratchy scrawl over one, and the last one a frowning face. The one on Sora's tie he had made into a four-pointed star ("Sora, what is that?" "A start!" "Sora, stars have five points, you numbskull!" "Nuh-uh, this one's a special star!") the one on his shirt had been giving a clown hat and curls out of the head that were obviously meant to be a moustache, and his armband now sported a giant X.

That wasn't all that they'd done.

After the alterations to the mouse heads, Riku'd decided he wasn't quite through yet. He had slipped the end of his belt short and given it a new hole, so now it was fastened tightly around his neck. He'd used the armband to tie his hair back (skull hanging from the end and lying out for all to see), and the ends of his shirt were ripped off. His pants also now had rips in the knees.

Sora went along with it, chuckling as he made his own changes. The pants were cut back into billowy shorts that swished slightly around mid-thigh. The belt was still there, but it was on the last notch so it hung down to his thigh. The shirt was altered into a t-shirt, and he wore his armband wrapped about his neck. And, for some reason, he had no socks on.

After a long pause, the two giving everyone a moment to collect themselves, Aerith muttered a hoarse, "What did you _do_?"

"Well, we thought our uniforms could use some changes," Sora said cheerfully enough.

"Yeah. We wouldn't want to conform to society's expectations and wear what everyone else was wearing, now would we?"

Yuffie was gaping at them like a dying fish. Laughter was coming, they all knew it. Just give it a few more minutes.

"So, do you like it?"

That set Donald and Yuffie off at the same time.

"AH HA HA!"

"YOU TWO LOOK LIKE IDIOTS!"

"YOU GUYS ROCK!"

"YOU'RE A DISGRACE TO THE ENTIRE CASTLE!"

"HAHAHAHAHA!"

"FIX IT RIGHT NOW!"

"YOU TWO LOOK AWESOME!"

"Would you both shut up? I'm getting a headache," Leon snapped coldly, his eyes still on the boys. And then, in an bland voice, he asked, "So, you two had some extra time last night or something?"

"Always time for this kind of stuff," Riku said in a tone that said nothing could have been more productive.

Yuffie's boisterous laughter finally subsided to a loud fit of giggles when Cloud lightly swatted her over the head.

"We need to get you new uniforms," Aerith murmured faintly. She was eyeing the uniforms like she expected them to change back to normal any moment now. "Right away. Before King Mickey sees."

"Aw, I'm sure he'd appreciate a good joke," Riku assured her. He rested one hand on his hip and slung the other over his partner-in-crime's shoulder. "Everyone could use a good ol' laugh, eh?"

Sora chuckled, grinning sheepishly at their small audience who stared with a mixture of awe and apprehensiveness, as if they thought that they'd both lost their marbles.

Not that they ever really had them altogether in the first place, but really, that's not the point.

"Now what?" Donald squawked. "His Majesty will be furious!"

"Aw, shucks, Donald!" Goofy said, clapping the duck on the back with a gloved paw. "It don't look all that bad!"

"Bad?" Cloud muttered. "They look like they fell out of a punk-rock band. A bad one."

"Are you all drunk or something?" Yuffie exclaimed. "They look awesome!" She shot the duo a double thumbs-up. "Nice job, guys! You shoulda called; The Great Ninja Yuffie would have been glad to give you a make-over!"

"Sorry, Yuffie," Sora grinned.

"Yeah, we'll get you next time," Riku chimed in. "We're planning on re-doing this entire place's uniforms!"

"WHOO!"

"Enough of this," Aerith said with a breathy sigh, eyeing the altered uniforms she herself has designed. "Let's just go down to the stock room and get some new uniforms before---"

"G'mornin', fellas! WHOA!"

"…ah, never mind."

King Mickey, a mug of steaming hot chocolate remaining surprisingly in his grasp as he leapt back slightly at the sight of his newest workers. His mouth and eyes had grown to around twice their size.

Riku let his arm fall away from his friends shoulder and, stepping away from each other, they both gave a great, comical bow with one leg swung behind them, an arm over their stomachs and the other sweeping into the air.

"Good morning, Your Majesty!"

Yuffie burst into more uncontrollable laughter. The act got a few giggle from Aerith and smirks from the two men, as well as Goofy's guffawing.

Donald hissed impatiently.

"Well, um, morning'?" Mickey blinked a bit, taking a moment to run his eyes up and down the New and Improved costumes as Riku and Sora straightened up, both shaking with barely-suppressed laughter. "Well, this is, uh, creative?"

"Just give me the order, Your Majesty," Donald muttered, rolling up his shoulders and feathered fingers clenching and unclenching around the pole of his staff. "The only thing that'll be left of those uniforms is---"

Then the King did something that was of no surprise to anyone but Riku and Sora, and to the great indignation of the Court's Magician. He started to laugh.

"Oh, Donald, quit it! I think their uniforms look fine!"

"But, Your Majesty!"

"They're teenagers. Did you really expect them to wear those things? Gawrsh, the alterations sure look swell!"

Riku and Sora exchanged glances.

They looked simultaneously at Aerith who, with a knowing smile on her lips, said, "Come on, let's let those fixed."

King Mickey just laughed before taking a sip of his hot chocolate, watching Riku and Sora quickly stride past him in Aerith's wake. "Works every time with kids!" And with a whistle, he departed, leaving behind Yuffie who was close to a heart attack, a very pissed duck who had Goofy there to calm him down, or attempt to do so, and two men who didn't really give a damn and went off to get some coffee now that the morning's excitement was finally starting to die down.

_Tails_

White jackets. Black vests with white jackets and brown-shoed feet scampering along a dark alley way under the heat of the sun and into am unnerving silence. Rats the size of small cats skittered here and there, beady eyes staring up as the men , merged into a giant crowd, slunk through the dark shadow of Disney Village. Deathly sharpened blades in ropy sheaths, slung to their belts, making _whapping _noises as they slapped against their legs.

Greedy eyes slinking back and forth.

The air had a sickening, old smell that tasted bitter on the tongue and stung your skin, making you squint. The smell of sweat and fear, anger, dripping and pooling along the floor to feed dark hearts.

It was the gathering.

The white guards were gathering.

Gathering, gathering.

That day, the city was pierced with the smell of something wicked that made the meat smell rancid, the fruit over-ripened, the hay waft mildew. Laughter sharpened into cackles and the shadows started to move, blackness following along the heels of the white jackets, black vests, and swords in ropy sheaths that made a _whapping _noises as they slapped against the moving legs of the white guards.

Gathering.

_found it we've found it_

_found it found it_

_it's here_

_founditit'shere_

_keyblade_

_Heads_

The room was dark now, lit only by the moon, it's light lapping at the shadows and forcing it into the farthest corners, away from two lumpy figures in their beds. Duel sets of soft breathing blending in as the crickets chattered away. Leaves swished and danced in the bight and their doppelgangers floated over the floor, a hymn of chanting rustles that filled the night.

The wickedness had dispersed from the air, leaving behind an ugly aftertaste that had caused the sunset to be dyed a dark blood red. The sun burned on it's way down and it made the air stiff and humid, uncomfortable for sleeping. The windows were thrown open and now the faintest traces of a breeze blew through, circulating the air and carrying soft snores outside to float among the grass.

New sets of uniforms lay over the two chairs that belonged to a long mahogany desk, pushed against the bed closest to Riku. Sora's bed was closest to the door, something Riku had insisted hion him taking. He said that he wanted to be closest to the window, which was closer to his bed by about a foot. Sora had been too tired to argue, anyway. The day was full of nothing but running around. They'd been given a full tour by the ever-patient Aerith after running to the stock room to be fitted for another set of uniforms. They'd get two more sets in a few days, Aerith said, so they could alternate while the others got washed.

The tour was interesting, to say the least. Riku knew the castle inside-out, but the only routes Sora had been able to recite by the end of the day was the way from their room to the kitchens.

Riku, quite honestly, expected nothing more than this.

The day was too long and neither stayed up for more then twenty minutes after their return. Brushing teeth and hair and throwing off their uniforms was pretty much all they did before they crashed into their respective beds. Talking ensued afterwards for another ten minutes. And Then Sora had yawned.

Which made Riku yawn. And then Sora yawned a big one and he didn't utter another sound.

After the brunet's first soft snore, Riku allowed himself one more yawn before shutting his eyes and relaxing himself onto the bed.

His eyes glued to the door.

The wickedness from the air was gone, but in his mind, he could see it floating in the air before him, ghosting through the air and wagging a sinister finger at him, beckoning him into a nightmarish dreamscape.

_Chapter End_

**Sorry it's so short?**

**Thank you, Fire, for getting me to write again. It took you all of fifteen minutes to do what readers have been PMing me to do for the past several months.**

**I was also slightly annoyed that people aren't picking up on these clues I keep on dropping all over the place, so I dropped a big fat one in here. I feel slightly better.**

**And as for the first part of the story? The bold-italicized things were just foreshadowing's and symbolism. Metaphors and all that stuff. Italicized things were someone's thoughts; I won't tell you whose. I'll let you know at the end.**

**Here's hoping you guys remember me! Flickering Light is next!**


	16. And I Found It Under The Couch

_And I Found It Under The Couch_

_Tails_

"They have _got _to be _kidding _me…"

"Heh heh… kinda big, isn't it?"

"Big? _Big? _Sora, this place could house around half the damn homeless people in the village!"

"Yeah…. Do we really have to clean all of it?"

Riku sighed, giving a reluctant nod of his head. They stood together, side by side, surrounded by massive amounts of marble on all sides. Great stone pillars sprouted up and crawled along the wall, suspended over their heads in great arches. Crimson banners of silk hung from the rafter like waves, rippling in the gusts of wind sent sailing every time the large door opened. A sweeping red carpet was rolled out in the middle of the great room, splitting the sea of white in half and causing a ribbon of red reflection to go streaking across the high polished ceiling. Windows towered above their heads, intricate patterns of colors stained deep within the cut glass, sending ripples of reds, blues, greens and grays washing over the high throne sitting neatly at the back center of the chamber.

"Every square inch," Riku confirmed, pulling the cart in behind him and shutting the large white door behind them. The silk banner above swayed from the banisters. The trolley was heavy with two sets of cleaning products each; mops, rags, window cleaners, floor polish, and scrubbing brushes to name a few. There was also a rather suspicious looking jar of a thick green paste that Riku and Sora didn't dare touch after Sora almost burnt his hand just touching the bottle.

Sora sighed heavily as well, ruffling the hair at the back of his head with one hand and using the other to lean against the cart. "But this'll take all day," he said exasperatedly.

"No use complaining about it," Riku scolded gently, walking back a few steps to peel up the carpet. "C'mon, Sora, help me with this. We'll roll it back so we can get under here…"

Muttering resentful things about certain silver-haired hypocrites under his breath, Sora obliged by squatting down as well and gripping at the end of the fold loosely. He gave a half-hearted tug; it wouldn't budge.

"It's not gonna move, Riku," Sora said sullenly.

Riku chuckled. "Sora, you're moping again."

Color instantly flaming up his cheeks, Sora said, "I do not!" a pout stuck prominently on his face.

Releasing another short bout of quiet laughter, Riku said, "C'mon, you big baby. Help me pull up this thing… But if you're too weak to do it, by all means, go get the mops ready. I can handle this myself."

"Yeah right, Riku," Sora snorted, redoubling his grip. "You ready?" he asked, looking up into amused green eyes.

"Yup," Riku replied, smiling. He always knew exactly which buttons to push to get the brunet moving. "On the count of three?"

"Sure." Making sure his grip was firm on the surprisingly soft material, he said, "One."

Riku smirked. "Two."

"Thr--WAH!"

Riku had already started pulling, catching Sora off guard. Laughing as Sora stumbled and landed on the floor with an, "Oomph!", Riku ran backwards as fast as he could, dragging the end of the carpet with him. It seemed to be most reluctant to leave the floor, and every inch that was lifted made a great suctioning noise, like a wet plunger.

Riku laughed as Sora got to his feet and swayed on the spot for a few moments. "Oh yeah, you can handle it," Riku jeered, continuing his graceful backwards trot, his smirk stretching up even further as Sora narrowed in eyes in a fierce glare.

"Gah, Riku!" he shouted impatiently, already racing forwards, causing his friend to laugh harder. "You idiot! What'd you do that for, huh!?"

"You're too slow, Sora!"

"Wahhh!"

Needless to say, the carpet was not sufficiently rolled and out of the until after an extra half hour and one bloody nose. It was not the best start to the morning, both agreed, but it was a start.

Speaking of start…

"Where should we start?"

"Huh?" Riku sad unceremoniously. He was stemming the steady flow of blood from his right nostril, the rather unfortunate result from their little skirmish, with his shirt sleeve. Aerith would reprimand him later for ruining his uniform for the second time in two days, but he figured she'd be a bit more lenient, seeing as it was blood instead of marker.

Sora was gesturing around the vast hall with, looking around in wonder. "The maid lady said to clean it… but where do we start?"

"First of all," Riku said, holding up one finger with his free hand, "she said only to clean the floors and throne, and secondly," a second finger, "there's no damn way I'm even going near that thing, so that takes one off of our agenda."

"Eh? Why?"

"Can't you do simple math? Two minus one is--"

"I know that!" Sora retorted. "But the throne--"

"Do you want to touch something someone spends hours at a time sitting on, pretending to be all high and mighty?"

"Well, no, but I don't think…"

"Then it's settled," Riku said shortly, taking the cufflink away from his nose and surveying it with slight interest. "We'll start at one corner of the floor and work our way to the door." He was prodding the bridge of his nose, checking to see if anymore blood would be leaking, before walking briskly past Sora to the cart at the other end of the hall. "Come on, let's get started!" he called over his shoulder. "If we get done early, maybe we can sneak out of here for a while."

"I'm pretty sure they thought of us sneaking off, Riku," Sora replied meekly, trotting after Riku. "What if we caught?"

"Then we get caught," Riku said, shrugging. He had picked up one of the two large bottles of floor polished and was closely examining the label. "What else could they do to us?"

"Make us stay three years instead of two?"

Riku ignored him. "Okay, this said to add one part cleaner, eight parts warm water… whatever. Let's just dump it in and get some water… Sora can you fill these up with water from the storage closet?" He held out to Sora two large buckets with one hand, one hand resting easily on the mops. "I'll move the chairs off to the side…" He looked around at the chairs, possibly numbering two dozen, that lined the right wall.

"All right," Sora consented, giving in to the fact that Riku was too stubborn to keep on talking right now. "Where is it?"

"It's right outside the door and to the right. Keep on going and at the corner there's a door; the faucet's right in there."

"Okay."

_Heads_

"Words simple cannot describe the progress we've made in," a pause as he checked the large clock on the wall, "two hours."

"Shut up, Riku…"

In the past two hours, the cavernous room still stood with scuffed floors and a rolled up rug. A few square feet in the corner of the room glowed with a pearly white sheen, making the sun ashamed to rise, gleaming in all of it's white glory--

Actually, it was still fairly scuffed up itself. The only difference was _lighter_ scuffmarks. Whether or not this was any real improvement was up to debate.

Riku groaned, rubbing his sore palms against the smooth fabric of his pants, allowing the handle of the mop to rest on his shoulder. "We're never gonna get this done," he growled. "Damn rat… why'd he have to have such a big room for his stupid throne anyway?"

"A better question would be how it got so dirty," Sora replied sullenly. He was still pushing the mop back and forth across the floor, but only halfheartedly. His arms were tired from lugging the buckets of water (he'd had to make two trips; the first time he'd spilled them all over the hallway) and scrubbing at a floor that would sooner turn blue then get clean.

"I think we made more footprints," Riku said idly, lifting up his foot to look at the ground below it. "Hey, what do you know? We have."

Sora let out his loudest moan of frustration yet, aimlessly kicking at the floor with his foot. "This stupid stuff isn't working!" he said, and Riku took it to mean the floor polish. "How're we supposed to clean this place if we don't even have the right stuff!?"

Riku eyed his fuming friend for a few silent moments before walking carefully over the slippery floor (which was thick with suds that didn't seem to be much in the mood for cleaning) and picked up the bottle to read again. We didn't everything right… That water's hot, right?"

Sora dunked his finger into the frothy water tentatively before saying, "Yep."

Riku threw the bottle back onto the cart. "Then there shouldn't be any problem! Stupid stuff…"

"Do cleaning products go bad?" Sora asked curiously as he, too, treaded across the floor. "Should we ask if they have any fresher stuff?"

"This stuff was brand new," Riku replied, giving the bottle a look of deep distain. "It wasn't even opened yet… So much for getting out of here for a while…"

Choosing to ignore his friends cynical comments, Sora said, "Well, we'll keep on trying," he said, trying his best to put a bit of cheerfulness into his voice. "If it doesn't get clean after a little bit, then we'll go ask Aerith for some other stuff, 'kay?"

There was a long pause.

"Fine," Riku muttered. "Whatever. But if it doesn't get clean in half an hour, I'm out of here." And without another word, he turned heel and strode across the slippery floor to his abandoned mop. Sora watched as his best friend pushed it forcefully against the floor, frustration etched across his features.

It had been a long morning, and Sora understood. They didn't even want to be here in the first place, and being given a task that was deeming itself to be nearly impossible…

Sora scanned over the cart's contents carefully, looking for something that might help. The window cleaner bottle was half empty; they'd spent that spraying the floors in the hope that it would be strong enough. All it did was produce a foul and strong smell that made them both feel so dizzy that they had to prop the door open to let in fresh air, which was quite a feat in itself; the door was heavy, and refused to stay open without something propping it back.

There was the green gunk that Sora was no longer brave enough to touch, rags which would be of no sooner help then a toothbrush. Mind you, the toothbrush might stand a better chance. Bristles would be much better than the soft mop--

And with that thought in mind, Sora's eyes fell upon the scrubbing brushes. With the handles. The large, looped handles.

Sora soon found a smirk of his own.

_Tails_

Riku could hear Sora rummaging around the bottles and rags behind him, but he didn't bother to turn around and tell him off. He was too tired. Aerith had put him on some sort of medication and it was making his bones ache and weariness drag at his muscles (1). He thought bitterly of the nice soft bed back in their room, and grudgingly pushed the mop back across the floor, which sneered dirtily up at him.

Damn it. You know you need sleep when the floor was being smug.

You also knew that you needed sleep when you start seeing blurs of color.

That were streaking across your line of vision.

In frighteningly familiar colors.

"Sora!"

Riku reached out a hand to grab at the blur, but it easily dodged with a sharp laugh. Riku blinked his eyes and watched his friend zoom lazily before his eyes, skidding across the floor effortlessly, small puddles of fresh suds forming in his wake.

In the wake of his feet… which had somehow grown long brown bristles.

"Sora… what the Hell?" Riku gasped, wide-eyed.

Sora smirked. "Well, the mops definitely aren't working," Sora said. A few seconds after this, he swept by Riku and grabbed the mop from his best friend's hands, swirling around it effortlessly and grinning. "But these things seem to be working just fine, don't they?" Sora lifted up a leg and bent it, showing Riku the scrubbing brush that he had slipped around his foot and secured with his own shoelaces. "Pretty neat, huh?"

Neat? Neat did not quite express what he was feeling at the moment, exactly. What he felt like doing was grabbing that other set of brushes that Sora had in his hand, and was now waving back and forth, smirking.

But that would just be too easy, and Sora didn't look like he was _in _a busy mood, which never meant any sort of good news for Riku.

Aforementioned teen sighed, watching Sora skate to and fron before him, still waving that pair of brushes.

"What do you want?" Riku asked resentfully, careful to keep a close on the brunet. However light Sora was, Riku was sure that the weight would fell double if the former chose to bawl him over.

"Well first," Sora held up one finger; Riku glare, "get that sulky look off your face." The corners of Riku's mouth twitched upwards, barely noticeable, but it was not wasted. Sora saw it ina flash, and his smirk grew into a smile. "Second," he held up a second finger, and Riku chuckled, "I want you to put these on." He threw the brushes to Riku, who looked down at htem, turning them slowly in his hands befor elooking up at his friend with amused ideas.

"You're insane."

"I know."

"So…" Riku lifted one foot, already slipping the makeshift skate on and loosening his laces enough to loop around the handle of the brush, "how fast do you think we can go on these things?'

"Heehee, we'll have to find out, won't we?"

_Heads_

"Hey, Max?"

"Yeah?"

"What's that sound?"

Max stopped walking. One long ear perked up slightly, listening keenly for the sound that a small, white feathered duck had asked him about. He couldn't hear anything.

"I can't hear anything," Max said. "Maybe you were just--"

Oh, there it was.

They sounded like… shouts. Distant shouts. And loud thuds.

"Oh no," the dog muttered. "Are Cloud and Leon fighting _again_?"

"Cool!" the duck triplets chorused, looking in the direction of all the noise.

Max stared down at them for a second before conceding, "Yeah, okay, it is pretty cool. You guys wanna go check it out?"

"Yeah!"

_Chapter End_

You wanna know what they find? Yeah, me too. I really should find those notes...

It's Spring Cleaning time on my computer, and guess what I unearthed? Yeah, this. I have to say my style's changed quite a bit since I wrote this, which was around one year ago. I just uploaded it for kicks. Haha.


End file.
